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CHRONICLES 



OF THE TOWN OF 



EASTHAMPTO:^, 



COUNTY OF SUFFOLK, 



N^E^v\^ YORK. 



Y DAVID GARDINER 



NEW YORK; 

1871 



C^t^oAAl- 



% 






Entered according to an Act of Congress, in the year 1871, by 

BOWNE & Co. 

In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. 



Ol-I^f^ 



BoWNE & Co., Printers, New York. 



PREFACE. 



The Chronicles of Easthampton were written, and originally 
published in the " Corrector " newspaper, about the year 1840. The nar- 
rative extends from the first settlement to the end of the American 
Revolution : a period in which the town was of most relative impor- 
tance, and during which occurred the most interesting events of its 
history. Some branches of the subject, however, in themselves finite, 
have been treated in continuation or to their conclusion at a much 
later day. The writer has derived his materials from these sources: 

I. The Town and Church Records; private letters and papers; 
and such traditions as have been thought worthy of belief. 

II. Lion G-abdiner's " Relations of the Pequot War ; " Sampson 
Occdm's "Letter on the Religious Customs of the Montauketts ;" and 
other papers published in the Historical Collections. 

III. The various writers treating generally of the Colonial and 
Provincial history of New England and New York, and particularly of 
the history of Long Island, to whom access could be obtained. 



CONTENTS. 



Preface. 

CHAPTER I. 

Page 
Manners and Customs, and Early History of the Montaukett Indians. — 
Their Govemjnent and Jurisdiction. — Sachems Poggatacut and 
"Wyandanch. — Social Habits, Arts, Language, Religion, Burials, Mar- 
riages, Festivities. — Wyandanch confederates with the English 
against the Pequots. — Hostilities between the Narragansetts and 
Montauketts ■*■ 



CHAPTER II. 

Settlement of Gardiner's Island. — Lion Gardiner.— Exposed Situation of 
the Settlers. — Miantonomoh endeavors to Prejudice the Montauketts 
against the Whites. — He calls upon them to join him in a Plot. — 
The Plot exposed to Gardiner and communicated to the Government 
of Connecticut. — Ninicraft endeavors to draw Wyandanch into a 
combination against the Colonies. — His Messenger seized 



CHAPTER III. 

Settlement of Easthampton. — Bargain of the Settlers. — Nature of the 
Country. — Government Established. — Courts, Laws, Division of 
Land. — Manners and Customs of the Settlers 16 



CHAPTER IV. 

Of the Rev. Thomas James, the first Pastor of the Congregation 24 

CHAPTER V. 

History of the Town continued. — Allotment of Lands. — Incursions of the 
Narragansetts. — Church Erected. — Pastimes of the People. — " The 
Whale Design." — Wyandanch Summoned before the Magistrates of 
Southampton ~'° 



CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER VI. 

Page 
Death of Poggatacut. — Wyandancli succeeds him as Grteat Sachem of 
Long Island. — Indians suspected of Hostility. — War between the 
Narragansetts and Montauketts. — Gardiner urges the Colonies to in- 
terpose. — Wyandanch descends upon Block Island, and Ninicraft 
upon Montaukett. — Daughter of Wyandanch made Captive. — The 
Commissioners interfere. — Gardiner Redeems the Daughter of Wyan- 
danch. — Description of Montaukett. — Sickness among the Indians and 
death of Wyandanch. — The Tribe seek the Protection of the White 
Settlement. — Extensive grants of land by the Sachem 33 

CHAPTER VII. 

Internal History of the Tovm continued. — Public Expenses. — Taxes, 
Paupers, Highways. — Allotment of Lands. — Schools. — Social Com- 
pact entered into. — Connection with Connecticut.— Goody Garlick 
charged with Witchcraft. — Her Trial.- — Description of the houses 
erected by the Settlers, and their Manners and Customs 39 

CHAPTER VIII. 

The Town comes eventually under the Jurisdiction of Connecticut. — The 
Montauketts after the death of Wyandanch. — Alienation of their 
Property. — Sickness among them, and death of the young Sachem 
Weoncombone. — Foreign claims upon the land of Montaukett. — 
Emigration. — Villages and Hamlets. — The Town comes under the 
Jurisdiction of New York. — Death of Lion Gardiner. — History of 
Gardiner's Island 48 

C H APTER IX. 

Government under the Duke of York. — Patents of Gardiner's Island. — 
Abolition of the authority of Great Sachem of Long Island. — Ad- 
ministration of the Duke's Governors. — Further transfer of land on 
Montaukett. — Parsonage. — The Dutch retake the Colony. — The Town 
refuses to come under their Jui'isdiction, and again joins Connecticut. 
— Restoration of the Colony to the English, and the Town again sub- 
jected to its authority. — King Phillip's War. — Protest against inter- 
lopers 56 

CHAPTER X. 

Petition to the Governor setting forth the Grievances of the People. — 
Landing of Dongan, and his efforts to quell the Public Excitement. 
— He grants a new Patent. — Administration of the Duke's Governors 
continued. — Kidd, the Pirate. — The Proprietors purchase from the 
Natives the remainder of their Possessions. — Montaukett at the 
present time. — Efforts to Civilize and Educate the Indians. — Their 
affairs after the death of Wyandanch. — Montaukett : Aboriginal 
Fortifications, Curiosities, Productions, Climate, Geology. — Rev'd 
Nathaniel Huntting 63 

CHAPTER XI. 

Samuel Mulford elected to the Provincial Assemby. — His Political Prin- 
ciples. — Opposes the Government. — Publishes an Obnoxious Speech. 
— Prosecuted by the Governor. — The General Assembly Solicits his 
Release. — He proceeds to England and urges the Grievances of his 
Constituents.— His appearance at Court. — Publishes a Memorial. — 



CONTENTS. 

Page 
His opposition to Col. Schuyler. — He returns home, is arraigned be- 
fore the General Assembly and Expelled. — Re-elected. — Again perse- 
cuted by the Governor. — Publishes " An Information." — Proceedings 
of the Assembly and Council against him. — He refuses to sign an ad- 
dress to the Governor — Is again expelled. — His retirement, and the 
success of his measures 75 

CHAPTER XII. 

Internal History of the Town continued. — New Church erected. — 
Casualties. — Common Whipper. — Spanish Pirates descend upon 
Gardiner's Island. — They Plunder it, and commit Violence upon the 
Inhabitants. — They are Pursued, but Escape. — Thomas Chatfield. — 
Eleazar Miller.— Rev. Mr. Mead. — Rev. Samuel Buel installed. — 
Retirement of the Rev. N. Huntting.— General Review. — Health and 
Diseases. — Climate, Commerce, Agriculture. — Canadian War 84 



CHAPTER XIII. 

Commencement of the American Revolution. — The Town sympathizes 
with the people of Boston, asserts the Immunities of America, and 
appoints a Committee of Correspondence. — Exposed Situation of the 
Town. — The Inhabitants unanimously sign the Articles of Associa- 
tion. — They virge upon Congress their Indefensible Position. — An- 
ticipated Incursion of the Enemy. — 'Efforts to Preserve the Stock 
and Produce. — Tlie British foi'ces make a descent upon Gardiner's 
Island. — Plot against Col. Gardiner. — Further efforts to preserve 
Stock and Produce. — Gardiner's Island Desolated. — Aid implored of 
Congress. — Premature Alarms. — Embargo Ordained. — Crew of a 
prize ship seized. — .British fleet descried. — Proceedings of the Pro- 
vincial Congress. — The enemy's vessels again descried. — A Company 
marches to Montaukett, and prevents a Landing. — Proceedings of 
Congress in relation to Long Island. — The Regulars land on Long 
Island. — It is abandoned by the Continental forces. — Perplexities 
and conduct of the towns-people. — Their condition under the enemy. 
— Attempt to Resuscitate the Royal Government. — Capt. Dayton. — 
Major Cochrane. — The British fleet Winters in Gardiner's Bay. — 
Major Andre. — Col. Gardiner. — Rev. Samuel Buel. — Reflections. .... 93 



CONCLUSION. 

The Town after the Revolution. — Sag Harbor. — Rev. Samuel Buel llO 

Appendix.... 113 

NoxBs 119 



CHRONICLES OF EASTHAMPTON. 



CHAPTER I 



" Thou little spot, where light first on me shone, 
Where my first pang, my earliest joy, I knew ; 
What, tho' remote, unnoticed and unknown, 
Yet shall my heart to thee be ever true." 

Oberon, Boole IV. 

Immediately previous to the year 1639, the present town of 
Easthampton was principally owned and inhabited by a tribe 
of Indians, called, as the first white inhabitants wrote the 
Indian pronunciation, Monlauketts. Than these, no earlier or 
other people are known to have been its possessors. Among 
themselves, no tradition or monument remained founded upon 
any certain fact of any ancestral beginning. Like the his- 
torical origin (except what is derived from sacred writ,) of 
the other nations of the globe, the account of their primitive 
ancestors were altogether fabulous ; and the story of the 
Montauketts differed nothing from the general notions which 
prevailed throughout the northern and eastern tribes. In 
their religion, they were polytheists and idolaters. Their 
government was a monarchial despotism. In their person, 
and this is most especially true of the Montaukett tribe, they 
were tall, of proud and lofty movement, of active bodies, and 
as straight as the arrow. They were warlike in their habits, 
and spent most of their time in the study of military policy. 
Their chiefs and their braves were distinguished above those 
of the other tribes of the island, for prowess in the field, for 
a recklessness of life in battle, and for the bold and daring 
onset with which, under their war scream, they rushed upon 
their enemy. 

All of the native tribes of the island, as far as the Canasies' 
territory, were at this time under the subjugation of, and trib- 
utary, in a greater or less degree, to the elder brother of the 
Montaukett^sachem, who resided on Shelter Island, as sachem 
1 



2 EASTHAMPTON. 

over the Manhassett tribe, and as great sachem of all Long 
Island. In 1651, the Montaukett sachem succeeded his 
brother, then deceased, as great sachem of Long Island, 
and had under him from ten to fifteen sachems, with whom 
his word was law, and over whom he exercised despotic 
sway. Without his assent, no sales of their lands were 
held good ; the controversies among themselves relative 
to their several jurisdictions, were subject to his decision; 
and their foreign broils were hushed or promoted, by 
the good or evil they might bring upon his own imme- 
diate tribe, or that of any one of his brothers. In his 
council he had several able ministers, among whom the 
greatest were Pequatone, and Poniute, sometimes called 
Mousup, who had distinguished themselves above all others, 
by their sagacity, their subtlety, and their bravery in war. 
The name of the Montaukett sachem was Wyandanch, and he 
resided with his tribe on Montaukett, between the ponds. 
His family, then, consisted of his wife, a son named Weon- 
com-bone, and a daughter. The elder brother of Wyandanch 
was called Poggatacut, and he had exercised a great and con- 
trolling influence over the mind and conduct of the Montaukett 
sachem. The Indians often had two sachems at one time, 
the elder for counsel, and the younger for action, being of 
one family, and succeeding by inheritance. Wyandanch sel- 
dom engaged in any war project, or important measure, without 
first consulting with and receiving the approbation of his 
brother, the sachem Poggatacut. 

The main body of the Indians within the present bound- 
aries of Easthampton, were settled on Montauk ; and from 
the extent and number of the burial grounds must have been, 
at an early day, very numerous. They occupied chiefly the 
north shore, and the grounds around the ponds. A compara- 
tively small number resided west of Montauk, about the bays 
and harbors, subject to the Shinecock sachem, who was also 
a brother of Wyandanch. The shores of Three Mile Harbor, 
the grounds about Accaboneck, and the shores of Gardiner's 
Bay, are in many places whitened with the shells of clams, 
where there had been probably temporary residences of 
Indians, for they are in too small a quantity to have been the 
collection of numerous families, or of any considerable num- 
ber of persons for any length of time. The waters near these 
places abound in shell fish, ami they are easily obtained. No 
burial grounds of any considerable extent are found west of 
Montaukett. The largest this side of Neapeag (a name "which 
signifies vmler land,) is at the southern extremity of the vil- 
lage of Easthampton, on the present parsonage grounds. But 
at this day, the small mounds which designated the ground 
where many a brave has his resting place, have been leveled 



EAST HAMPTON. 3 

by the plough, and even traditionary knowledge of the spot 
is now very limited. 

While Wyandanch held in subjection the other chief tribes 
of tlie island, he himself was tributary to the Pequols, a 
people residing on the shores of the Connecticut and Mystic 
rivers, more fierce, cruel and warlike than any of the tribes 
around them, and who at one time numbered four thousand 
able warriors. Their large canoes enabled them to transport 
across the sound any luimber of men, and their frequent visits 
to the island, overawed the tribes, and secured a continuance 
of their dominion. Some few families of the Pequots resided 
at Southampton and Southold, and on Shelter Island; but 
their residence was only occasional. They formed no social 
connections with the islanders, and the probability is, they 
were placed in those parts merely to observe the movements 
of their tributaries, and act as spies upon their conduct. 

At the first settlement by the whites, the Montauketts 
were yet numerous. They raised great quantities of corn and 
vegetables ; their woods were well stocked with animals and 
birds, and their bays and ponds with water fowl. Their 
canoes, in which they visited the neighboring islands and 
the continent, as far east as Boston, and as far south as 
New York, were of the largest class ; and that of Wyandanch, 
was so large as to require the strength of seven or eight men 
to draw it from the water upon the shore, and on one occa- 
sion it suifered injury from the waves at Gardiner's Island, for 
want of a sufficient number of persons to place it beyond 
the reach of the sea. With New Haven and the Connecticut 
river, their intercourse was frequent. Their habits were social, 
and they visited, in great frequency and familiarity, the fam- 
ilies of neighboring tribes, with whom they delighted to mix 
in converse and friendly gaiety. 

In the arts they had made but small advancement. The 
principal articles of manufacture were shell beads, which 
were called wampum, and which from all accounts they 
made in greater abundance than any other tribe. It was, as 
is generally known a substitute for money, used as a cur- 
rency throughout the New England country by the Indians, 
and afterwards received and adopted as such by the whites. 
The beads were blue and white, and those of the darker hue 
were of double or treble value. They were also manufac- 
tured into belts, which were worn around the waists of the 
chiefs, and often exchanged with other tribes in commemora- 
tion of signal events. The commencement of a peace, or the 
renewal of a treaty, was always consummated by an exchange 
of belts of wampum. They also manufactured earthen ves- 
sels, hardened by the fire ; arrow heads, made from the white 
flint stone ; the bow and the arrow shaft ; the axe of stone 



4 E AS T H AM P TO N . 

which, with the aid of fire, served very slowly and coarsely 
to fashion the canoe ; the scanty clothing for their bodies, 
and the moccasins for their feet; the matting of rushes and 
reeds, which formed the covering of their wigwams, and the 
carpet for their beds ; and the boAvl for the preparation of 
food, the place of Avhicli was more frequently supplied by its 
representative, the gourd or pumpkin shell. The invention of 
the head, and the labors of the hand, had supplied little else 
for the convenience or luxuries of Indian life. Barbarism 
among all people exhibits very nearly the same advance- 
ment in the arts, and the only differences are such as nature 
makes, in her requirements for the support or protection of 
life. In their domestic aiiairs, the women performed the 
duties of the wigwam and the labors of the field, assisted in 
a very small degree by the old men and children. 

Their language diftered but little from that of either of 
the eastern tribes — they all spoke a kindred tongue — notliing 
more probable than that difference of dialect, which is found 
to exist in the different sections of even civilized nations. 
If the same person was to write down, from the mouth of the 
Indian, the languages of the various tribes, the same letters 
would be used to express the same sound, and probably that 
difference of spelling which exists, has only arisen from the 
different impression made upon different ears by a like sound 
where any material variation appears, or a different term is 
used, it may well arise from the application of a synonymous 
word existing in the same language. It is a wonderful fact 
that several words in the Mi)ntaukett language are precisely 
the same with those of a corresponding signification in the 
language of the Indians of Owhyhee, one of the Sandwich 
Islands, 

They were, as I have before remarked, polytheists, and had 
gods in great numbers ; gods of lesser influence having par- 
ticular charges, and two exalted ones, the good and the evil 
deity, having a general superintendence and control, as well 
over all other gods, as over men. There was a god of the 
four corners of the earth, and the four seasons of the year ; 
another of the productions of the earth ; another of the ele- 
ments ; one of day and night ; and a god of the hearth, the 
family, and domestic relations. The great good and supreme 
god they called Catvhluntoowut, which signifies one possessed 
of supreme power. The great evil spirit was named Mulches- 
hesumduoh, which signifies evil power. They worshipped and 
offered sacrifices to these gods at all times. They had small 
idols or images and a regular priesthood Avho knew the will 
of the gods, by whom these idols were consulted. The priests 
were called Foivawas, or Fow-tras, and declared to the peo- 
ple Avhat the gods rcqui red of them ; when dances and feasts 



E AS T JI AMP TON . 5 

should be made ; when presents should be given to the old 
people; when sacrifices should be offered to the gods, and of 
what kind. These pow-was pretended to hold intercourse 
with the gods in dreams, and with the evil spirits in particu- 
lar, who appeared to them in different forms, and by voices in 
the air. These were the medicine men ; they administered 
to the sick ; relieved those afflicted by evil spirits and by 
l)oison ; and by their incantation and charms, ]n-otected them 
from all hurt. Subjected to the pow-wa's influence, neither 
could fire burn them nor water drown them ; nor could they 
receive any injury whatever. The most savory sacrifice made 
to their great deity was the tail or fin of the whale, which 
they roasted. The leviathan from which it was taken, was at 
times found upon the sea shore, and then a great and pro- 
longed pow-wow, or religious festival, was held. At these 
festivals great efforts were supposed to be necessary to keep 
the evil one without the charmed circle of their incantations. 
His i^resence, it was suj)posed, would defeat the object of the 
230w-was in the ])rocurement of the favor and })articular re- 
gard of the good deity. Violent gesticulations, horrid yells, 
and laborious movements of the limbs and body, with distor- 
tions of the features, were continued until the excitement 
produced approached to madness. When the evil spirit was 
supposed to be subjugated, the dance and the feast com- 
menced. It is among the Indians' tradition, that at one of 
their pow-wos, the existence of the evil spirit was evidenced 
by his having left the imprint of his foot on a granite rock 
at Montauk, when driven from the feast; and by three lioles 
in the ground at regular distances where he alighted, in 
three several leaps, from the place of his standing, and then 
disappeared. 

They believed in a future state of existence : that their 
souls would go westward, a great distance, and many moons 
journey, to a place where the sprits of all would reside, and 
where, in the presence of their great Sawwonnuntoh, beyond 
the setting sun, the brave and good would exercise them- 
selves in pleasurable singing, in feasting, hunting and danc- 
ing forever ; the coward, the traitor, the liar, and the thief, 
were also there ; but the enjoyments of the favored of Saw- 
wonnuntoh only added to the pains and punishments visited 
upon the misdeeds of the wicked. Servile labor so painful 
to, and so much despised by tiie Indian, was the allotment of 
the sinful. The making a canoe with a round stone, and car- 
rying water in a wicker basket, were among the perplexing 
exercises of those who had sacrificeil the happiness of their 
future existence to the will of Mutcheshesumetook, or the 
evil power. 

Their dead were committed to the care of the women and 



6 EAST II AMP TON. 

the pow-was, after having first undergone ablution; the bodies 
were fancifully adorned with a great variety of ornaments, 
such as had been used by the deceased on gala days while liv- 
ing, and such as had been given by their particular friends and 
relatives for the occasion. The face of the corpse was paint- 
ed, to disguise the appearance of death, and with these 
preparations the body "was borne to the grave by the young 
men, followed and preceded by the women, making loud and 
mournful lamentations. The personal attire of the dead, to- 
gether with his equipments of war, if a brave, were buried 
with the body, which was placed in a sitting posture about 
two feet below the surface of the ground. A bowl of samp 
was placed upon the grave, to support its occupant in the 
imaginary journey westward of the setting sun. The family 
now prepared anew habitation, and the wigwam, in which the 
deceased expired, was destroyed. A year of mourning fol- 
lowed, during which period the women of the family painted 
their faces black, put aside their fine ornaments, joined in no 
dance or feasts, nor even mentioned the name of the de- 
ceased. When the year of sorrow was completed, and on the 
first of the new moon thereafter, the mourners made a great 
dance from the setting to the rising of the sun. 

The marriage of the Montauketts were celebrated with 
much ceremony, and with great feasts and merry-makings. 
Polygamy was not indulged. Marriages were entered into 
between infant children, by their respective parents, to be 
consummated when they should arrive at the age of maturity. 
The mothers nourished indiscriminately their plighted in- 
fants, familiarized them by constant association, and did 
whatever might tend to give them an ati'ection for each other. 
If, when arrived at the years of discretion, the parties should 
have formed other attachments, they were at liberty to forego 
the parental arrangement. The presents, which were made 
in the marriage engagement, were then returned to the re- 
spective donors, and the intentions of the parents relin- 
quished. Young people were also permitted, by the consent of 
their parents, to form alliances of their own choosing ; and 
marriages of policy were also contracted by parents^ without 
the knowledge of the parties betrothed, and no acquaintance 
existed between them. The day of naming a child was, like- 
wise, a day of festivity. A great com2)any was collected; 
dances were engaged in ; presents of ornamental wam})um, of 
beads and other ornaments, of dishes and apparel, were given 
to invited guests; and the name of tlie child aiwaygpro- 
nounced by every recipient of a gift. But it was not always 
known by this first naming ; it was common for parents to 
name their children several times, and by different names. 
Many of their deeds transferring land are executed with a 



E AS T H AMP TO N . 7 

number of aliases appended to the original name. The 
Indian population of Easthampton, when the town was first 
visited by the whites, is not known. The Montaukett tribe 
exercised the right of hunting throughout the island, and fre- 
quently pursued the deer as far west as the Dutch settle- 
ments. 

In 1687, Wyandanch and his warriors confederated with 
the whites, in the war against the Pequots, three days after 
the great battle at Mystic Fort. The severity which that 
tribe had exercised over his own people, aijd those of his 
brothers Poggatacut and Nowedinah, the former great sachem 
of Long Island, and the latter sachem of the Shinecocks, in- 
duced him to exert the full extent of his forces in the 
destruction of that powerful nation. He therefore united with 
Capt. Stoughton, in the pursuit of those who had fled after the 
battle of Mystic to the Great Swamp beyond New Haven, and 
gratified his deep hatred in the destruction of upwards of two 
hundred of the foe. Sassacus, the Pequot sachem, fled to 
the Mohawks, and like Themistocles, sought shelter and pro- 
tection of his constant and persevering enemies. But those 
to whom his name had been a terror, wanted the magnanimi- 
ty which his confidence and bravery should should have in- 
spired, they put to death Sassacus with several of his chief 
captains, and sent the head of the sachem to Hartford as a pro- 
pitiatory offering to the English, who seemed to relish Indian 
blood, as well as they loved Avampum and land, and whose late 
successful wars against the natives had alarmed very gener- 
ally both the near and distant tribes. Previous to the battle 
at Mystic, Wyandailch, under promise of protection from the 
Massachusetts Council, which he had met at Plymouth, had 
put to death all the Pequots he could find, both on Shelter 
and Long Islands. Fearing that some might be left, the En- 
glish after that battle sent Tlionias Stanton from the fort at 
the mouth of the Connecticut River, to extirpate the remain- 
der ; but the friendly chief had so thoroughly done his work, 
that none were to be found. Uncas, the chief sachem of the 
Mohegans, and Miantonomoh, the chief sachem of the Narra- 
gansetts, had engaged with the English in the destruction of 
the Pequot nation, and had afterwards quarreled between 
themselves in a division of the spoils. A mutual and warm 
friendship subsisted between Wyandanch and Uncas, but the 
repeated difficulties and destructive wars which he had en- 
countered with the powerful tribe of the Narragansetts, had 
made him greatly inimical to the sachem Miantonomoh. Al- 
though Wyandanch had been uniformly friendly to the 
English, the tribute which the Pequots had extorted from his 
nation by violence and war was now exacted from their effi- 
cient ally by the whites themselves. As the conquerors of the 



8 E AS THAMP TO N. 

Pequot nation, they claimed from the Montauketts the trib- 
ute which had annually been paid to Sassacus, and which, 
without justice or color of right, continued until 1656 to be 
imposed and exacted. Wyandanch now returned with his 
warriors to Montaukett, and made great preparations to sus- 
tain himself against the threatened hostilities of the Narra- 
gansetts. After the destruction of the Pequots, the disagree- 
ment between Uncasand Miantonomohhad nearly resulted in 
a o-eneral war between their nations. To prevent this Uncas 
had sent a challenge to Miantonomoh, and proposed to cast 
their ditierences upon the issues of a personal combat. Mi- 
antonomoh declined the proferred issue ; by the persuasion 
and interference of the English, they at length consented to 
lay aside all animosities, and entered into a treaty of peace. 
Notwithstanding his pretenses of friendly feeling, Miantono- 
moh relieved from all fear of the Pequots, and from his con- 
troversy with Uncas, was attempting, as early as 16-i'2, to effect 
a combination among the Long Island and New England In- 
dians against the further encroachments of the whites. He 
was alarmed at the rapid extension of their power and terri- 
tory, and had become restless under the restraint imposed by 
the Bay Colony, and the exactions made of him for wampum. 
To break up the intercourse of the English with the Montauk 
Indians, he visited Wyandanch, accompanied by two of his 
chiefs, and made great efforts to enlist him in the combina- 
tion. 



CHAPTER II. 

As early as 1639, Gardiner's Island, called by the Indians 
Monchonock, a term signifying a place where many have 
died, first named by the English the Isle of Wight, and which 
is now comi)rised in the township of Easthampton, was set- 
tled by the family of Lion Gai-diner. This was the earliest 
British settlement within the present State of New York. 

Mr. Gardiner was a native of England, antl had been edu- 
cated to the jjrofession of arms. When he entered upon ac- 
tive life, the Netherlands and Germany were the theatres of 
wars which wereengrossing the attention of the civilized world, 
and which interested in a greater or less degree the nations 
of Europe. The Low Countries Avere engnged in a contest in 
the course of Avhich they achieved the highest renown, and 
sai)i)ed the foundations of Spanish prosperity ; while the 
famous tiiirty yefirs war between the Protestants and Catho- 
lics of Germany was drawing to either side notorious cham- 



E AS T H AMP TO y. ^ 

pions from every quarter. Family connections and private 
vexations, induced the Kings of England, first James, and 
afterwards Charles, to favor the cause of the Netherlands 
against Spain, and Gardiner was among the many of the 
young men of Britain, of bold and adventurous spirit, 
seeking fame, or sympathizing with the oppressed, re- 
paired, in the language of the day, "to trail a lance or pike 
in the Prince of Orange's army." The military celebrity of 
Frederick Henry, who succeeded his brother Maurice, as well 
as his high character, which Avas only equaled by that of his 
great contemj)orary, Gustavus Adoli)hus, enlisted universal 
partiality. Among those who thus engaged in the cause of 
the Netherlands, was Lion Gardiner, a lieutenant by rank, 
who became master of works of fortifications in the encamp- 
ment of the prince, and who in the course of a war replete 
with rapid and striking events, saw much active service. It 
was not long before the penalty of non-conformity drove many 
of the English dissenters to seek a refuge in the same country. 
Among these were some men of distinction, both of the 
church and of the laity, who chiefly settled themselves in 
the city of Rotterdam in the peaceful enjoyment of their re- 
ligious sentiments. The doctrines they held spread among 
their countrymen in the army, and to that source they turned 
for men who possessed the active qualification necessary to 
carry into effectual execution the designs which they were 
quickly induced to entertain of colonization in America, 
Through the persuasions of the celebrated Hugh Peters, then 
pastor of the English church, at Rotterdam, and during the 
latter part of the Protectorate, chaplain of Oliver Cromwell ; 
and of John Davenport, who had been a popular minister in 
London, and who afterwards became eminent in New England, 
Gardiner consented to repair to the Colonies. He entered into 
an agreement with Mr. Peters, by which he pledged his ser- 
vices to the comjjany of the patentees of the territory at the 
mouth of the Connecticut river, " in the drawing, ordering 
and making of a city, towns and fortifications." By the 
terms of his agreement, he was to act in this employment four 
years, and have under his command three hundred able bodied 
men. In the meantime, while on services probably at Fort 
Orange, in the neighborhood of the small city of Woerden, so 
often devastated in the wars of Europe, he became acquaint- 
ed with Mary Wilemsen, a native of that place, and a lady 
of prominent connections, to whom lie allied himself in 
marriage. 

On the 10th of July, 1635, in fulfillment of his engagement, 

Mr. Gardiner, with his wife, Mary, left Woerden, and went to 

London, whence they took passage for America, in a small 

Norsey barque, of only twenty-five tons. She was amply fur- 

2 



10 EASTHAMPTON. 

nished by the patentees with every suitable kind of provision ; 
and in her there embarked in all eleven persons, besides Mr. 
Gardiner, his wife, and a female servant. The undertaking 
was certainly extremely hazardous ; and even at this day, 
with all the superiority of modern seamanship, and with all 
the multiplied improvements in naval architecture, and the 
art of navigation, it would require a bold heart and great de- 
termination of purpose, to venture in a vessel so small, upon 
a voyage of such peril and prospective hardships. But the 
hazards of a soldier's life, which are apt to make men careless 
of danger, were familiar to Lion Gardiner, and no anticii)ation 
could weaken the confidence which, as a zealous })uritan, he 
reposed in the guardian care of God. The voyage was very 
tempestuous, but in the language of Governor Winthrop, 
" through the Lord's great providence," the vessel with her 
passengers and goods, all arrived safe at the mouth of the 
Connecticut river, (after touching at Boston,) on the 28th of 
November, l()3o. A few days i)revious to the arrival of Gar- 
diner at Saybrook, Governor Winthrop, who had lately been 
commissioned by the patentees, had sent twenty men, princi- 
pally carpenters, under charge of Left. Gibbons, to take pos- 
session ot tlie place. 

Here they commenced the erection of buildings, against 
the ensuing spring, expecting the arrival at that time of three 
hundred men who were to have followed Gardiner from 
England ; two hundred of whom were to have engaged in 
erection of fortifications ; fifty in tilling the ground, and 
fifty in assisting those previously engaged in building houses. 
But great was their disappointment in the spring to learn 
from Col. Geo. Fenwick, one of the patentees, who then ar- 
rived, that they were not to exj)ect the promised men. From 
some cause, the patentees had been unable to accomplish that 
part of their original agreement. 

The vexation at this disappointment, though great, was 
much increased by the imprudence of the Commissioners at 
Boston. Some four or five years previously, the Pcquots had 
killed Captain Stone and his crew, who had arrived from 
Virginia, and were passing up the Connecticut river. The 
English having taken offense at this act of the Pequots, had 
complained of it to them, and demanded a delivery of those 
who had been engaged in the murder. The Pequots charged 
Capt Stone of having, by his improper and suspicious con- 
duct, provoked their hostility, and declined to deliver them 
up. They, however, sent to the Commissioners some otter 
skin coats and beaver, and some skeins of wam])um, in miti- 
gation of the ofiense. These presents were declined by the 
Commissioners, and returned through the agency of Hugh 
Peters, Mr. Oldham, and Mr. Stanton, who had accompanied 
Mr. Fenwick to Saybrook. 



EASTHAMPTON. 11 

It was Mr. Gardiner's opinion, and so it turned out, that a 
return of the presents would lead to an open rupture with 
that powerful, fierce, and warlike tribe. He exhorted them, 
therefore, not to return them until he was better prepared 
for defence. He insisted that they ought not to jeopardize the 
lives of his small force, consisting of only twenty-four persons, 
including women and children, for the death of a Virginian, 
with whose people the Commissioners held no political re- 
lations. He urged also that he had on hand but the gathering 
of three acres of corn, and that none was to be obtained under 
twelve shillings sterling per bushel ; that to expose him to the 
Indians, whose mercies were cruelties, without food and with- 
out houses to cover his peoj)le, and when so long a time had 
elapsed since the cause of offense accrued, showed that their 
love was greater for the Virginians than for him; and that 
though nature had done much toward rendering the place 
of easy fortification, forts could not j^rotect them against 
famishing. He besought these gentlemen, therefore, to urge 
the Commissioners to restrain their ardor for immediate war. 
When afterwards, Endicott, and Turner, and Underbill, with 
their forces, were sent from Boston to make a descent on the 
Pequots near New London, and had arrived at the command 
of Gardiner, at Saybrook, he told them: "You have come 
hither to raise these wasps about my ears, and then you will 
take wing and flee away." Finding his advice and his re- 
monstrances unavailing, he made preparations to sustain his 
little baud against the attacks of the Indians as he best could. 
His fort was invested by the Pequots "from time to time, un- 
til the termination of the war. He himself was wounded in 
the thigh, and sustained a loss of several of his men in skir- 
mishes with the Indians. 

Gardiner's narrative of the Pequot war is written with so 
much simplicity, and naturalness of manner, as well as with 
such inherent marks of probability, that sufficient vouchers 
of its truth are borne upon its very first pages. The letter 
transmitting it for the use of bis friends, exhibits such can- 
dor and singleness of j)urpose, that I here insert it. 

" Easthampton, June 12, 1660. 
" Loving Friends, 

"Robert Chapman, and Thos. Hurlburt: 

" My love remembered to you both. These are to 
inform, that as you desired me when I was with you and 
Major Mason at Scabrooke, two years and a half ago, to con- 
sider and call to mind the passages of God's providence at 
Seabrooke, in and about the time of the Pequot war. Where- 
in I have now endeavored to answer your desires, and have 
rumaged and found some old papers then written, it was a 



12 EAST HAMPTON. 

great help to my memory. You know that when I came to 
you I was an engineer or architect, whereof carjjentry is a little 
part, but you know I could never use all the tools ; for al- 
though for my necessity I was forced sometimes to use my 
shifting chissel and my holdfast, yet you know I could never 
endure nor abide the smoothing plane. I have sent you a 
piece of timber scored and forchewed, unfit to join to any hand- 
some piece of work, but seeing I have done the hardest work, 
you must get somebody to chip it and to smooth it, lest the 
splinters should prick some men's fingers — for the truth must 
not be spoken at all time. 

"Though to my knowledge I have Avritten nothing but 
truth, and you may take out, or put in, what you please, or if 
you will, may throw it all into the fire. But I think you may 
let the Governor and Major Mason see it. I have also insert- 
ed some additions of things that were done since, that they 
may be considered together. And thus as I was when I was 
with you, so I remain still, 

" Your loving friend, 

" Lion Gardiner." 

This " Relation of the Pequot Wars,^' as the author suggest- 
ed, did 2)rick some men's fingers, and it was not given to the 
public. Of the causes and j)i"Oinoters of that war, his 
"■Relation^' differs somewhat from those which were many 
years afterwards published. His situation, however, placed 
within his reach the best possible knowledge ; his command 
of the Fort was above suspicion, and he could have no motive 
to misrepresent. In all his relations with the Indians, he 
appears from his first landing to have entertained the most 
just views, even at a time when such were not sanctioned by 
the conduct of those who made great pretensions to the 
Christian's faith. If he executed vengeance upon some, he 
did it under the imperious necessity of self defense, and for 
the protection of those under his charge. His punishment 
• extended not beyond the aggressor ; the innocent were not 
involved in the fate of the guilty. He made no pretense of 
butchering the poor Indians for tlie good of their souls and 
the glory of God. He regarded them as human beings, and 
treated them accordingly. The Pequot Avar he disapproved 
of; and though he rejoiced at the success of the English 
arms, he could not but regret the horrid butchery which had 
attended its progivess and results. This numerous tribe 
"supped so full of lujrrors" as to exceed all rational exi)la- 
nation of what could have induced our Christian ancestors 
(who par-excellence assumed to be the salt of the earth,) to 
have pursued so unrelentingly, Avith fire and SAvord, this ill 
fated people. The massacre at Mystic Fort was indiscrimi- 



EAST HAMPTON. 13 

nate — of old men, women and children. The Rev'd Cotton 
Mather says, that " no less than five or six hundred Pequots' 
souls were brought down to hell that day." 

Lion Gardiner remained at Saybrook Fort four years, ac- 
tively engaged in the settlement of Connecticut river, when 
he made the necessary preparations to remove to the Isle of 
Wight, called ^by the Indians Monchonock, which he had 
bought of the sachem Wyandanch. It was during the Pequot 
war, that he became acquainted with this sachem. He was 
introduced to him by his friend Major Gibbons, a distin- 
guished soldier of Massachusetts, who had with himself 
served in the armies of the Netherlands. From this and 
during a long life, Wyandanch maintained for Gardiner an 
ardent, disinterested and constant attachment. In the autumn 
of the year 1639, Gardiner removed to his island ; his Indian 
purchase having, on the tenth of March previous, in consider- 
ation of the payment of £5. annually, been confirmed to him 
by a deed from James Farrett, deputy of the Earl of Sterling, 
secretary of the Kingdom of Scotland, who had received the 
king's patent. He brought to the island, besides his own 
family, a number of those who had been under him in the 
garrison of the fort. 

On his arrival, he immediately commenced the labors of 
cultivation and improvement. He had had, while at Say- 
brook, an addition of two children to his family, a son and a 
daughter. The former, whose name was David, was born on 
the twenty-ninth of April, 1636, and was the first ivhite child 
born in Connediciil. The latter, who was named Mary, was 
born in 1638, on the thirtieth of August. On the Uth of 
September, 16-11, Elizabeth, his last child, was born upon this 
island. She was ih.e first English child born unlhin the present 
State of Neio York. 'The island was of good soil, and cov- 
ered almost entirely with a growth of large timber. The 
wood consisted principally of oaks, intermixed sparsely with 
the walnut and the beech. The land was high and undu- 
lating, and as the forest was mostly full of underbrush, the 
labors of agriculture were more easily accomplished. Much 
of the open ground had been planted by the Indians Avith 
corn, and it was here that the first rude beginning of cultiva- 
tion were made. The goat and the hog were the first do- 
mestic animals introduced; and the field pea, the pumpkin, 
and the Indian corn, were the first gatherings of their plant- 
ing. Cows and horses were subsequently obtained from New 
England, and wheat and barley soon succeeded the other 
crops. Mr. Gardiner continued on the island with his family 
until 1653, when he removed with his wife and daughters, 
and located himself at the southern part of what is now 
the village of Easthampton. David, his son, with the labor- 



14 E AS T HABIP TON. 

ers and farmers, remained until 1657, wlien lie left for 
England, and spent some years in London. 

The disturbed and restless state of the surrounding In- 
dians, and the continually threatened and often expected in- 
cursions of the Narragansetts, gave Gardiner much uneasiness, 
and occasioned frequent alarm. To protect his family and 
people against the stealthy attack of the lurking and crafty 
foe, required from him incessant watchfulnes*s. The duties 
of " watch and ward," which had been familiar to him from 
early life, were vigilantly executed ; and the rigid observance 
of all necessary circumspection was daily and nightly en- 
forced. During the first year of his residence here, he could 
derive no aid from any English settlement, nearer than the 
one he had assisted in forming at the mouth of Connec- 
ticut river ; and in case of emergency, his only reliance for 
support was upon his friend, Wyandanch. His own safety, 
however, was not his only care, and during a residence of 
sixteen years on his islands, he continued in correspondence 
with the Governors of New Haven and Hartford, exhorting 
them to vigilance, and communicating such intelligence of 
the jDrojects and movements of the Indians of New Eng- 
land, as he was enabled to derive from his intimacy with the 
chiefs of the Montauketts. Wyandanch kept him well ad- 
vised of the plots and plans of his old enemy Miantonomoh, 
the Narragansett sachem, who, after the Pequot war, had be- 
come much disaffected toward the English. 

Under the impression that mischief was on foot against 
the settlements, Mr. Gardiner made frequent visits to Mon- 
tauk, and, on one occasion, met Miantonomoh there. Wyan- 
danch communicated to him the object and views of the 
Narragansetts, and the following eloquent " talk " : 

" You must not," said Miantonomoh, " give to the English 
any more wampum, for they are no sachems ; nor shall any 
of their children be, in their place, if they die. They have 
no tribute given them. There is but one king in England 
who is over them all ; and if you should give him an hun- 
dred thousand fathoms of wampum, he would not give you 
a knife for it, nor thank you." 

" Then," said Wyandanch, " they^ will come and kill us all, 
as they did the Pequots." 

" No," replied the Narragansett, " the Pequots gave them 
wampum and beaver which they loved so well, but they sent 
it to them again because they had killed an Englishman. 
But you have killed none ; therefore, give them nothing." 

Some time after this, and when Wyandanch was absent, he 
returned again with a troop of men ; and instead of receiv- 



EASTHAMPTON. 15 

ing presents as a superior, as he had formerly done, he 
brought presents for them, and addressed to them this artful 
and impressive speech : 

"Brothers, we must be one, as the English are one ; other- 
wise, we shall all shortly be gone. You know our fathers had 
plenty of deer and skins — our woods and plains were full of 
deer and turkies, and our coves of fish and fowl. But, broth- 
ers, these Englishmen have gotten our lands ; they cut down 
the grass Avith their scythes, and, with their axes, fell the 
trees. Their cows and horses eat up the grass, and their hogs 
spoil our clam beds, and we shall be starved. Therefore, 
stand not in your own light, but resolve with us to act like 
men. All the sachems, both east and west, have joined with 
us, and we are resolved to fall upon the English at an ap- 
pointed time. For this purpose I have come secretly to you, 
because you can persuade the Indians and sachems of Long 
Island what you will. Brothers, I will send over fifty In- 
dians to Block Island, and thirty to you from thence ; and 
take an hundred of Southampton Indians, with an hundred of 
your own here — and when you see the three fires that will 
be made at the end of forty days hence in a clear night, then 
do as we shall do, and follow, and kill men, women and chil- 
dren — but not the cows, they will serve for provisions till 
the deer be increased." 

The old man replied, " It is well." 

Wyandanch, on his return, discovered to Lieut. Gardiner 
the visit of Miantonomoh and his projects for the destruc- 
tion of the English. This information he immediately com- 
municated to the magistracy of Connecticut. 

" So the plot," says Gardiner, " failed, and the plotter, next 
spring after, did as Ahab did, at Ramoth Gilead." 

On the death of Miantonomoh, another sachem of the 
Narragansetts, called by the Montauketts Ninicraft, and who 
bore also other names, undertook to carry into effect the 
plans which had heretofore failed. More subtle than Mian- 
tonomoh, he possessed equal pride and fierceness. The arbi- 
trary course pursued against him by the whites, made him 
implacable in his hatred toward them, but he was sagacious 
enough to avoid the danger of an open rupture. When Mr. 
Mahew desired permission to preach to his people, he bid him 
go and make English good first. He possessed also some 
magnanimous traits of character, and when questioned in 
relation to what it was his interest to fiilsify, he manl'ully re- 
plied, "My tongue shall not belie my heart." Ninicraft, 
two years after the death of Miantonomoh, sent one of his 
captains to open again proposals of a combination against 



16 EASTHAMP TON. 

the English. But Wyandanch, true to his friend, seized the 
messenger, and delivered him bound to Gardiner, who placing 
him in charge of his servants and nine men, ordered them to 
deliver him over to the Governor of New Haven. The 
weather proving unfavorable, they were detained some days 
at Shelter Island, when the prisoner escaped from them, and 
apprised Ninicraft of his unsuccessful mission, and the un- 
friendly act of the Montauketts. Ninicraft finding Wyan- 
danch unmanageable, determined on his destruction ; and 
from thenceforth made no efforts to reconcile him to his 
policy. The portrait of Ninicraft is preserved in New York 
by a descendant of John Winthrop, Jun., with the tradition 
that the life of his ancestor was once saved by him. 



CHAPTER III. 

On the twenty-ninth day of April, 1648, Poggatacut, sachem 
of Monhansuck, Wyandanch, sachem of Montaukett, Momo- 
wata, Corchate sachem, and Nowedinah, the Shinecock 
sachem, conveyed to " the Worshijiful Theophilus Eaton, 
" Governor of the Colony of New Haven, and the Worshipful 
*' Edward Hopkins, Governor of the Colony of Connecticut, 
" and their associates," the lands lying from the bounds of 
Southampton to the east side of Neapeag, next unto Mon- 
taukett, for the consideration of twenty coats, twenty-four 
hoes, twenty-four hatchets, twenty-four knifes, twenty-four 
looking glasses, and one hundred muxes ; the grantors re- 
serving to themselves the right of fishing, hunting and fowl- 
ing, the fins and tails of whales cast upon the shore, the 
skins of deer driven by them into the water and killed by 
the English, and the right to fish after shells for wampum. 
These boundaries embraced nearly thirty-one thousand acres 
of land. 

In the spring of 1651, the interest of the above grantees, 
upon the payment of thirty pounds, four shillings, and eight 
pence, sterling, was assigned by deed in conformity to a pre- 
vious contract to The Inhabilants of Easthampton. John 
Hand, Sen,, John Stretton, Sen., Thomas Talmadge, Jun., 
Robt. Bond, Daniel Howe, Robt. Rose, Thos. Tomson, Joshua 
Barnes, and John Mulford, commenced the first settlement, 
under the original contract, early in 1649. The first six of 
these came from Lynn, in Massachusetts, where they had re- 
mained for some time after their arrival from England. The 
father of Talmadge, whose name was also Thomas, was a 



EAST HAMPTON. 17 

large proprietor in that purchase, and was made a freeman of 
that town, previous to 1638. Howe was a sea captain, and 
held a military ajipointment under the magistracy of Salem. 
Hand was from the hamlet of Stanstede, in the county of 
Kent, England, where, for several years after his arrival here, 
he held an estate in lands. Barnes and Mulford had, but a 
short time previous to the purchase, arrived and settled at 
Southampton, from Salem. Most, if not all, of them were 
from Maidstone, or the country in its vicinity, in the county 
of Kent, one of the richest agricultural districts in England. 
They first named the purchase Maidstone, after that town : 
a name which ought to have been retained, in jjreference to 
the one subsequently adopted and still used, as far more eu- 
phonious and exclusive. That appellation continued for some 
forty years to be incidentally used, until at length it was lost 
sight of in all writings relating to the town. It is not known 
that it was ever acknowledged in judicial or legislative acts, 
but, in wills and deeds, it was long retained by individual 
choice. It is to be hoped that the " towns people" may yet 
be persuaded to obtain a legislative enactment, restoring to 
them their good name. 

The settlement formed, the wilderness was now to be cul- 
tivated. The grounds were to be cleared of the forest. The 
wild animal was to give place to the tame and domestic ; the 
hunting ground and wigwam to the arable field and pleasant 
cottage ; the guttural voice of the red man to the softened tones 
of the civilized white, and the pow-was of the savage to the 
worship of the Christians' God. But first, privations were to 
be endured ; difficulties to be encountered ; and dangers to be 
provided against. The inclemency of the seasons, the depre- 
dations of savage beasts, the deadly bite of the serpent, and 
the silent arrow of the lurking Indian, were all to be avoided 
with prudence, care and watchfulness. The first settlers were 
men already inured to labor, and most of them to the hazards 
of life in the wilderness. They were farmers, and well under- 
stood the cultivation of the ground and the labor of produc- 
tion. They had not left their country with golden dreams. 
They had not to reconcile themselves to the toil requisite to 
supply the necessary demands of life. The richness of the 
soil required only a moderate skill in its cultivation to ren- 
der it eminently productive. 

For miles around their first location, the country was al- 
most a perfect level, in some parts gently undulating, but, 
throughout, unbroken. In their immediate settlement, the 
soil was deep, and the sub-soil three or four feet in deiDth.- 
There was no stone to be removed, and no moist ground to 
be drained. Beyond the plain, to the west were light lands, 
producing the pine in luxuriant growth. To the east of the 



18 EASTHAMPTON. 

high land was a district of country called Neapeag, of sev- 
eral miles in extent, j)artially wooded with a growth of 
dwarfish pine, and comprising some salt meadows ; but the 
greatest part was a low waste of sand, frequently overflowed. 
It has since much encroached upon the sea, and the hills of 
fanciful shape, which are now seen along its southern border, 
have been formed by the joint operation of the wind and 
waves, subsequently to that period. At extraordinary high 
tides, the water of the sea still passes over it, and renders it 
occasionally difficult to be crossed. The sand hills, though 
to some measure confined by the long roots of the beach 
grass, frequently change their appearance and position. The 
high land, on its eastern border, was evidently once the 
boundary of .the ocean. The south shore of this district uf 
sand, at the time of the settlement, extended but little be- 
yond the line of the first house on Montauk ; and the whole 
shore could, at a much later day, be seen from the door of 
that house to the highlands at Amagansett. Near the west- 
ern termination of the beach, about midway from ocean to 
the high lands, are to be seen the relics of the skeleton of a 
whale. The skeleton, at the earliest recollection of the 
whites, was nearly perfect, and must, from its appearance, 
have been left by the receding sea The Neapeag harbor, 
which has its entrance from the sound, is gradually diminish- 
ing on the north side from the encroachments of the sand ; 
while on the west, the shore has evidently receded, as stumps 
of trees are to be seen some distance below low water mark. 
On the latter side, a small, but very deep pond, formerly of 
fresh water, separated from the sound by high hills of loose 
sand, discharges into the harbor. To the east of this was 
Montauk, a high and hilly region of rich land, where resided 
the tribe of that name, over whom Wyandanch exercised 
control. Along the whole sea coast of the town, the border 
of the upland produced a scrub oak ; but the trees being 
gradually protected by each other, from the violence of the 
winds which reached from over the wide spread ocean, en- 
larged in height and size as they receded. The oaks were 
the predominant tree ; they were of large growth, and, in 
the openings, of very extended branches It was here the 
Inilian had, in his rude manner, cultivated his corn, and, by 
annual burnings, prevented the growth of underbrush, 

Throughout the i)urchase, the woods abounded in game, 
and the wolves were so numerous that it became necessary to 
effect their destruction by payment of a large bounty. 
Hounds were kept at the public charge lor hunting them, 
and '' after serious consideration and tetlious debate, it was at 
'•last agreed that John Osborn and Stephen Osboru shall have- 
" eight 2)ouuds for keeping the old hounds a year, and they 



EASTHAMPTON. 19 

"shall keep them still." The swamp at the east end of 
Hook Pond, called the Great Swamp, was much frequented hy 
them, and their nightly ravages diminished the flocks and the 
folds. The ponds abounded in perch, and in the harbors and 
creeks, bass were in great plenty. The seine has since 
thinned their number, and what would have satisfied the 
hunger and the taste of many, has been sacrificed to gratify 
the avarice and selfishness of the few. At Georgika Pond, or 
Lake, as it would from its extent be more fully denominated, 
perch of a large size were taken in abundance, and the la- 
borer, after his daily task was ended, could in a few min- 
utes, with his baited hook, supply the wants of his family 
for the coming day. Bass and eels in great numbers were 
taken in the harbors Avith spears, and shell fish furnished 
many a feast. 

Before a year from the first settlement had elapsed, the 
number of inhabitants had been increased to thirty-four 
families. They setttled around what is now called Town 
Pond, but what was then a mere swamp or morass. The 
bushes were destroyed, and the mire was removed and used 
as a manure. Their dwellings, like those of our modern 
pioneers, were made of logs or rough boards, with thatched 
roofs, and coarsely put together for a temporary residence. 
Of those who had joined the settlement during the first year 
several were from Gardiner's Island, where they had been 
farmers for Mr. Gardiner, and some from the settlement of 
Southampton, and others from several towns in New Eng- 
land, bordering on the sound. 

They established a government, })artly democratic and 
partly representative, in the most simple form. However 
good the character of a people may be, it is absolutely neces- 
sary that some rule of conduct should prevail. Being with- 
out the jurisdiction of any of the chartered colonies, it be- 
came necessary for them to establish regulations of their own 
formation, or to adopt those of a system already devised. 
They had left their firesides and country to be freed of the 
arbitrary administration of the government of Britain, and 
the multitude of vexatious laws which restrained the free- 
dom of mind and body ; but not for the abandonment of all 
government and all restraint. They were of too practical a 
character to believe in the perfectability of human nature, 
and too well acquainted with mankind to think that a com- 
munity could be restrained from injustice by the mere light of 
reason. An established religion had been obnoxious to them 
at home, and they had seen that the restraint imposed upon 
conscience, and upon the exercise of civil rights was the oc- 
casion of great disturbance there. They did not therefore 
incorporate in their civil code a system ot worship ; they gave 



20 EASTHAMPTON. 

no religious opinions a legal adoption, nor did they make 
church membership a necessary qualification for office. 
Wherever they had found an union of the church with the 
civil government, tyranny and oppression were its sure con- 
comitants. It was their desire to enjoy the benefits of both, 
yet so that neither should encroach upon the other. 

They now ordained a General Court, composed of the 
whole assembled people. Three men at first were selected 
at the General Court, and subsequently, four to constitute a 
Special Court. They acted under the solemnity of the fol- 
lowing oath: "You being chosen by this Court for the care- 
" ful and comfortable carrying on the afiairs of this Town, do 
"here swear, by the name of the great and ever living God, 
" that you will faithfully, and without respect of persons, ex- 
" ecute all jury laws and orders as shall or may be made and 
" established by this Court, according to God, according to 
" the trust committed to you during this year for which you 
" are chosen, and until a new one be chosen, if you remain 
" among us. So help you God." The three men were an- 
nually chosen, and had jurisdiction over all matters of con- 
troversy between individuals. From them there was an 
appeal to the General Court. Their first process was called 
a warrant or summons; and when a jury was had, their ver- 
dict was final. An executive officer, called a constable, car- 
ried into efiect the judgment of the Court. All laws were 
enacted, and all the general afiairs were regulated at a town 
meeting, at which every inhabitant was bound under penalty 
to be present. In all actions for money over forty shillings, 
and in all criminal suits, a jury of seven men were called. A 
secretary was also api)ointed, whose duty was, under the re- 
sponsibility of an oath to be performed, " according to his 
order." 

This was the whole machinery of their government, and it 
appears to have worked well. Their laws or orders were few, 
and princijially related to the distribution, possession and en- 
joyment of their lands. Their criminal code was for the first 
year that general rule, of not doing or suffering to be done 
unto otliers what they would nut that others should do unto 
them. The degree of punishment for any oft'ence against the 
laws, was the mildest under the common law of the commu- 
nity from Avhich they had separated. Their better feelings 
revolted from the execution of the bloody code of the New 
England Colonies, and repudiated the severe enactments of 
the Jewish legislator. They sent to Connecticut for a copy 
of the laws of that colony, but they adopted few of them, 
and never carried into effect those of great severity. Upon 
the conviction of an individual of an otiense punishable by 
the Connecticut code with death, and for which several had 



EASTHAMPTON. 21 

there suffered this extreme i)enalty, they declared by an 
unanimous vote " that it was not worthy of the taking away 
of life, or limb, or banishment," and only ordered corporal 
punishment. The greatest of any punishment were imprison- 
ment, the stocks, and whipping. Even to this extent, they 
appear to have been conscientiously scrupulous, and, with a 
neighborly sensibility, often put off for "debate, reflection, 
" and advisement," the punishment of offenses. 

Thomas Tallmadge, Jun., was the first recorder or secretary. 
Judging from his handwriting and orthogiaphy, he must have 
had a good education for that period, when in the mother 
countiy the teaching of grammar was held by agrarians of 
of that day, " a corrupting of the youth of the realm." Taking 
the same extent of learning as a criterion, he had a much bet- 
ter education than some who have held higher stations in our 
country in this enlightened age. John Mulford, Robt. Bond 
and Thomas Baker were the first three constituted judges of 
the Special Court. The two former have already been men- 
tioned, the latter joined the first |)urchasers soon after their 
arrival. He came to them from Milford, in Connecticut, then 
under the jurisdiction of the government of New Haven. He 
was one of the first settlers there in 1639, and removed to 
Easthampton in 1650. This Special Court met at eight 
o'clock in the morning, on the second day of the first week of 
each month " to try all causes according to order, and to con- 
sider of those things that might concern the public good." 
Among the powers granted to it, was that of marriage. It 
seems to have been considered by them, as it now is in this 
State, a civil contract. Not as it then was, and now is in Eng- 
land, a matter of ecclesiastical jurisdiction. 

The grounds were divided among the settlers, in pro- 
portion to the amount each had advanced of the purchase 
money. Subse(iuently, settlers were admitted upon terms 
agreed upon by the General Court. No person was ' al- 
lowed to sell or buy lands, without the permission of the 
town ; and thus dangerous or improper persons, those of 
doubtful morals, were excluded from the society. Vagrants, 
or those having no settled place of residence, were 
not permitted to remain in families, even with their con- 
sent. Hired laborers were liable to be removed at the 
discretion of the General Court. By a general order those 
capable of bearing arms were required to equip themselves 
with such as were tit for use, with powder, ball and swan 
shot. No arms or ammunition were permitted to be sold or 
given to the Indians Those who fired the woods in clearing 
their lands, were liable to all damages, should it spread with- 
out their premises. To prevent accidents by fire, it was or- 
dered that none should be taken abroad except in a covered 



22 E AS T H AM P TO N . 

dish, and each householder was to keep a ladder upon his 
house which would reach to the top of the roof. These pre- 
cautionary laAvs were necessary to a safe enjoyment of their 
property. 

Relying upon the integrity of Eaton and Hopkins, the 
settlers had paid to the agents of those persons, the con- 
sideration for which they held their lands, without having re- 
ceived the proper conveyance, or any acquittance for the pay- 
ment. By a resolution of the General Court, Ralph Dayton 
and Robert Bond were successively sent to Hartford to procure 
the necessary writings. Dayton had but a short time previous 
arrived from England, and learning on his landing in Boston 
that a settlement by his friends was undertaken on the east 
end of Long Island, he immediately proceeded there. They 
did not succeed in procuring the papers needed, and it was 
not until repeated visits during several years that the pur- 
chasers were furnished with the evidence of their title and 
jiayment. 

The settlers were all farmers uninstructed in any trade. 
The laws of Great Britain forbid the emigration of mechan- 
ics, under severe penalties, and it was by stealth only they 
could leave the country. Bounties in land were therefore of- 
fered to induce them to join the settlement, and it is found 
for the first three years they were privileged beyond all other 
settlers. They were exempted from rates, furnished with 
houses, and provided for in lands and provisions, besides be- 
ing paid a fair remuneration for their labors. Goodman 
Morgan of Southold, was sent for to do the town's weaving, 
and was to have five pounds in money and two acres of land 
broken up. A blacksmith was invited from Huntington, and 
a carpenter had from Wethersfield. 

Sumptuary laws were enacted, by which unconscionable de- 
mands for articles of necessity were forbidden, but they did 
not extend to the regulation of dress. Perhaps no occasion 
had required it. They probably thought themselves beyond 
the influence which vanity exerts in the decoration of the 
person. They were mostly upon a level in their station in 
life, and they were too remote from the other more populous 
settlements to suffer pride by comparison. Beauty unadorned, 
is adorned the most, and the good wives and young damsels 
were not so exposed to the temj)tations of exotic finery, as to 
violate this approved maxim. Those who can recollect the 
aged of the last generation in the town, can pretty accurately 
conceive Avhat might have been the ap})arel in long gone by 
days ; since, changes have been little frequent, and eras of 
fifty years have produced till lately but trifling alterations. 

In the article of diet, they were necessarily temperate. 
The different dishes into which they had learned to manu- 



E AS T H AM P TO N. 23 

facture the Indian corn and pumpkin, afforded a variety of 
the most nutritious food. Near by every house stood the 
samp mortar, a large log hollowed out at one end, with a 
pestle attached to the extremity of a long pole susjiended 
over it. The other end of the pole was planted in the 
ground, and a crotch of some ten feet in height supported it 
midway. This instrument might be heard in operation every 
Saturday afternoon, preparing the samp and hominy for the 
coming week. Who that has read our countryman's poem 
upon samp, porridge and hominy, can but admire a dish that 
could have inspired the bard to sing its virtues in strains of 
such unbounded praise. The following verses of an old 
song, written about the times of our history, are significant of 
the value set upon the pumpkin : 

" If fresh meat be wanting to fill up our dish, 
We have carrots, and pumkpius, and turnips, and fish ; 
And if there is a mind for a delicate dish, 
We haste to the clam banks, and there we catch fish. 

" 'Stead of pottage, and puddings, and custard, and pies, 
Our turnips, and parsnips, are common supplies ; 
We have pumpkins at morning, and pumpkins at noon, 
If it was not for jiumpkins, we should be undone." 

Mr. Johnson says : " Let no man make a jest at pump- 
" kins, for with this food the Lord was pleased to feed his 
" people to their good content." 

On Monday morning, by the break of day, was to be heard 
the beat of the pound barrels throughout the neighborhood, 
when those whose duty it was to guide the house and dili- 
gently follow every good work, were busily employed in 
cleaning the clothes of the family. By midday the washing 
was over, and the bushes and fences about the houses were 
whitened with the labors of the morning. The afternoon 
was as regularly devoted to visiting and receiving visits, 
as the morning was to washing, and on many a pleasant after- 
noon of this day, might have been seen the good wives and 
damsels dressed in their best attire, wending their way along 
the narrow foot paths, across the valley by town pond, then 
almost entirely overgrown Avith brakes and bushes, to the 
houses situated on either side. We may imagine that the 
mem"bry of their friends across the wide waters furnished 
the visitors with thoughts and feelings, and conversation ren- 
dered doubly interesting by sympathy. That all the trifling 
incidents which made the home of their early life dear to 
them were carefully recounted, and many a long drawn sigh 
suffered to escape at the recollection of past endearments 
and disappointed expectations. The beautiful country 
around Maidstone, in the fertile county of Kent, from which 



24 E AS THAMP TON. 

most of them had emigrated, and which was dotted with so 
many of the habitations of their friends and relatives — the 
river Medway and its grassy banks, ujion which they had in- 
dulged in youthful frolic — the parents, of whom they had 
taken a long farewell — the brothers and sisters whom they 
had left at home, for they still gave to their forsaken hearth 
that most endearing name, and the last long lingering look 
when distance was about to shut from their view so many 
things of most affectionate interest — were doubtless all the 
subject of remark, and painful, and well as pleasing, remem- 
brance. The incidents of the previous week were probably 
also recounted and discussed ; and perhaps when mingled 
with a little scandal, were not less grateful to the ready ear. 
Slander was among the forbidden otfenses, and it was the sin 
which most easily beset them. It was ordered, ''that who- 
" ever shall slander any one, shall be liable to pay a fine of 
" five pounds ;" and as a faithful chronicler, I am bound to 
acknowledge that several husbands were sufferers for the lo- 
quacity of their wives. 

Benjamin Price succeeded Tallmadge as recorder, and they 
exercised the office alternately for a number of years. Price 
had been a farmer for Mr. Gardiner, on his island, and was a 
very young, but a married man. He had evidently a good edu-' 
cation. About this time a house was purchased for a prison, 
and placed in the street opposite the dwelling of Goodman 
Garlick. All able bodied men bore arms ; trainings were 
frequent, and deemed of so much importance, that every ab- 
sentee was liable to a fine of five shillings. 



CHAPTER IV. 

Mr. TnoMAS James, Jun., was the first clergyman. He was 
the son of Thomas James, Sen., who had been a minister in 
Lincolnshire, England. James arrived with his father and 
family at Boston, in the ship William and Frances, on the 5th 
of June, 1632. The elder James settled at Charlestown, in Mas- 
sachusetts, and remained there with his son and family a little 
over three years. Owing to some imprudent speeches of his, 
the church over which he presided, and of which he bad pre- 
viously been an ajDproved pastor, took olfense, and he removed 
to New Haven. He is said by an historian of that jieriod to 
have been " a very melancholic man, and full of causeless 
jealousies." His son was at the time a young student in 
divinity, and the tradition is that he was a very young man 



EAST HAMPTON. 25 

when he came to Easthainpton. Johnson, in his Wonder 
Working Providence, mentions both father and son in poetic 
measure, with high commendation, both as to talents and 
piety. The ekler James resided some j'ears in New Haven 
as a teacher in the church of which Mr. Davenport was minis- 
ter, these two ofhces being- then hekl in the same church. In 
1642 and 1643 he was engaged in a mission to Virginia, and, 
in the the hitter year, returned to liis family, which had re- 
mained in New Haven. He is at this time named among the 
planters of New Haven, his estate being valued at two hun- 
dred pounds sterling, and his family consisted of a wife and 
three children. It is said by Cotton Mather, that he returned 
to England. Mather, in his catalogue of New England min- 
isters, mentions both father and son ; the elder as being in 
office when he left the mother country, the younger as hav- 
ing finished his education in New England. There appears 
to liave been some contradiction in the accounts of these two 
persons, owing to there having been a number contem- 
poraneous of the same name. 

The earliest notice of Thomas James, Jun., in the records 
of Easthampton, is on the 22d of April, in the year 1651, 
when an extension of time was given him to make his log 
•fence. On the 28d of August, 1651, it was ordained iu a 
town meeting " that Mr. James should have for his work in 
" the ministry, for the ensuing year, £45, and his lands to lie 
'• rate free, and for future time £50 a year, and rate free for 
" the time of his standing in office in the ministry among 
" them." From this time he seems to have taken a very active 
part in all the town's concerns. His interest in the purchase 
was among the largest, and he occasionally added to it. He 
appears to have been held in high estimation by both Eng- 
lish and Indians, for his integrity and understanding. He 
was an active man ; executor and overseer to a great num- 
ber of estates, and employed by the natives and whites in 
the arrangement of their mutual engagements. Independ- 
ent of the influence which his ministerial station gave him, 
he commanded much respect for his independence and de- 
cision of character. The approbation and regard of his 
parishioners was frequently evinced, by conferring upon him 
public offices disconnected with his professional engagements. 
He was repeatedly chosen a trustee of the town, and placed on 
committee to watch over and defend their jiolitical rights. 
Minor evidences of kind and benevolent feelings toward him 
are found upon record. His grist was to be ground first of 
all on the second day of the week, and he was not to be 
stayed by any man. The one-half of all whales that should 
be cast upon the shore were to be given to him and Mr. Lion 
Gardiner. The wife of James was named Catherine, and he 
4 



26 tJASTHAMPTOlSr. 

had a son, Nathaniel, and two daughters, Ruth and Hannah. 
To what period his wife lived, or whether she survived him, 
is not known. Nathaniel was a trustee of the town in 1688, 
but how long he lived is not known. Hannah married James 
Diamont (Dinion), the son of Thomas Diamont, who settled 
u})on him at his marriage a large i)art of his estate. Futh 
married John Stratton. James was the near neighbor of Lion 
Gardiner — their house lots adjoined, and they were on terms 
of great intimacy. They lived on the east side of the burial 
ground, directly opposite the cemetery of some of the de- 
scen(hmts of Mr. Gardiner, and near where it is supposed he 
was himself interred. James took much interest in the po- 
litical concerns of the (hiy, and was warmly opposed to sub- 
mission to the government of the Duke of York or his agents. 
He })referred the government of Connecticut as more con- 
genial to puritan notions. Probably his abhorrence of papacy, 
to which the Duke gave countenance, influenced his mind. 
One of his sermons was so offensive at a later period to Gov- 
ernor Dongan, that a warrant was issued to apprehend James 
as a pestilent fellow, and a mover of sedition. He was for 
several years employed by the Society for the Propagation 
of the Gospel in New England, to labor among the Indians 
on Long Island, and allowed a compensation. In the year* 
1695, on the 20th of November, he conveyed by deed all his 
real estate in Easthampton to John Gardiner, Lord of the 
Isle of Wight, grandson of Lion Gardiner, for £500. The 
one-half of this amount was paid at the execution of the 
deed, and the other moiety Gardiner obligated himself to pay 
to the assigns of James, within thirty days after his death. 
The [)ossession of all the estate was to continue in James for 
the use of his own family during life. 

In 1691, the town, on account of the age and infirmities of 
their worthy pastor, wcie induced to ap})ly to the Rev'd Mr. 
Davenport to assist him in the duties of the ministry, but 
for some misunderstandinji: he was not enora^ed. Thev sub- 
sequently employed a Mr. Jones, to whom James relinquished 
£40 of his salary, and the people added to this amount the 
further sum of £20 and his fire wood. In August, 1694, 
Lieut. Fithian was chosen to proceed to New Haven, the resi- 
dence of the Rev'd Mr. Jones, and wait upon him over, for 
which service he was to receive from the town, two shillings 
and six pence a day and his expenses. The allowance before 
mentioned was continued to Mr. Jones, in that word, until 
the employment and settlement of the Rev'd Nathaniel Hunt- 
ing, in the year 1696. 

Nothing is known of James's qualifications for the}nilpit,but 
most probably his manner partook of the peculiar spirit of the 
times. The enthusiasm which pervaded the dissenters in Eng- 



E AS TRAMP TON. 27 

land, was brought with them into this wilderness when they 
fled from the persecutions of those whoso ceremonies and or- 
dinances they deemed to be derived of the scarlet one of Baby- 
lon — mere inventions of the devil — to lead astray the 
righteous l/y show and pomp. In point of doctrine most of 
them differed nothing from their brethren of the church of 
England. The many metai)hysical notions which disturbed 
the New England churches, where contiguity elicited dispu- 
tation about points of faith, were of such nice distinctions ''by 
" occasion whereof no man could tell where any difference was. 
"They were rigidly exact in the mint, anise and cunimi n.^' V7\\\\e 
that charity wliich beareth all things, and never faileth Avas 
put aside and forgotten. The church at Easthampton, it is 
supposed, adhered to the confession of faith agreed on by the 
Westminster Assembly in 1642, but adopted the Congrega- 
tional form of government, instead of the Presbyterian, which 
was established by that assembly. Subsequently it adopted 
the Presbyterian form. At Cambridge, the synod of 1648, 
composed of the New England churches, framed a confession 
of faith, and form of church discii)line, called the Cambridge 
Platform, which continued tlie rule of their ecclesiastical 
j)olity until 1780. The General Court of the town assumed 
no authority in church affairs or matters of conscience, but 
fixed the salary of the clergyman, and provided for its pay- 
ments. It was assessed upon lands of the individual parish- 
ioners. Whether James had any peculiar notions in matters 
of faith is not known, but whatever they might have been, it 
is evident, from the fact of his living so harmoniously among 
them for so long a period, that his people submitted to his 
better knowledge. Their remoteness from the scene of ec- 
clesiastical contention, which broke into factions the New 
England churches in regard to the relative merits of justifi- 
cation and sanctification as connected with good works and 
with faith, saved them from much dissension, and preserved 
among them that great unity of doctrine which has been an 
example to all that believe. 

That James possessed some of his father's eccentricity, 
would appear from his burial, by his own direction, adverse- 
ly to the general custom, and from a variety of anecdotes 
which tradition has handed down. He was interred with his 
head toward the east, that he might face his peoi)le at the 
general resurrection. It would seem that he felt well satis- 
fied with his own conduct, to have thus wished to confront 
those who might have well known him through life. He 
died on the sixth day of June, 1696 His monument of red 
sand stone still stands in the south burial ground undelaced, 
and if erected at the time of his death, is the earliest me- 
morial in that cemetery, or any other in the town, of any re- 



28 E AS T H AMP TO N. 

corded death. The length of the grave, if the head and foot 
stones are properly placed, would denote a person of very 
small stature. Various circumstances induce the belief that 
the monument of Mr. James was erected some time after his 
decease. The monument of Mrs. Gardiner, the wife of John, 
grandson of Lion Gardiner, of the Isle of AVight, is the next 
earliest. It is a slab of red sand stone, and records her death 
in 1707. 

It is })robable, therefore, that for forty-nine years after the 
first settlement, no memorials were raised to the dead ; unless 
the four red cedar posts, four or five inches in thickness, and 
of the usual height of head and foot stones which stand near 
the earliest graves, were previously erected. Two of these 
posts are connected above the grave by a rail of the same ma- 
terial, about four inches square, and the other two bear marks 
of having been once joined in a similar manner. On the 
former, no appearance of any inscription remains, but on the 
latter, the initials B. 0. can be indistinctly traced. The fra- 
grance of the wood is still fresh, and as it was called drift 
cedar, it was probably found upon the sea shore. Four years 
since, a person then aged ninety-four, wdio was born and who 
always lived in the village, described them as bearing, at his 
earliest recollection, the same worn appearance that they then 
did. Their duration is certainly verj^ remarkable. 

The south burial })lace has always remained unenclosed until 
within a short jteriod, and being situated in the grounds of 
the public highway, it has been exposed to the intrusions of 
cattle and to depredations of all kinds. What the object could 
have been in thus locating it, at a time when land was of little 
value and all equally accessible, can only be conjectured. 
Burial grounds are considered holy by the Romish church, and 
the zeal and bigotry of that day was so intolerant of all papal 
customs, that the puritans were generally disi)osed to adopt 
the reverse of what they considered the superstitions of that 
church. Instead, therefore, of regarding such places as con- 
secrated grounds, especially devoted to pious uses, they might, 
by selecting the public common for the burial of their dead, 
have intended to sliow their contempt for all j^opish rituals. 



CHAPTER V . 

As fast as the lands were allotted, the boundaries of the 
resi)ective owners were ascertained by a regular and exact 
survey ; fences were made of fallen trees arranged along the 
lines, and so actively engaged had they been in clearing fields 
of wood, that before the end of the year 1653, almost all the 



EASTHAMPTOJV. 29 

arable land around the first place of settlement, and in the 
western and eastern plains, comprising a circuit of about two 
miles, was under some degree of cultivation. The division of 
the land continued to be made among the original pur- 
chasers, or their heirs and assigns, in pro})oi'tion to their in- 
terests as tenants in common. Tlie first allotment was of above 
six hundred acres in the whole, and the amount of each man's 
ascertained share or interest therein, formed the principle 
upon which all tlie future divisions were made. 

The Narragansetts, in their feuds Avith the Montauketts, 
had advanced so far toward the white settlement as to kill 
an Indian engaged in tending their cows. To protect them- 
selves against the danger of such incursions, more attention 
to train band meetings was enforced, and the officers were re- 
quired to exercise their men more frequently in the use of 
fire arms, It was ordered by the General Court '' that all men 
should bring their arms to meeting on the Lord's day." 
The beat of the drum announced the opening and closing of 
the business of the Court, and on Sabbath the same martial 
music summoned all to the duty of prayer. 

In 1G51, the General Court determined that a meeting house 
should be built, of twenty-six feet by twenty, and of eight feet 
posts. This building was erected on the grounds of the south 
burial j^lace. Like the rest of the houses of that day, it was 
intended merely for tem})orary use. Its sides were boarded, 
and its roof thatched. It lasted much longer than the in- 
creasing population of the town could conveniently occupy 
it. In l(39y, when the alternative question was taken at a 
town meeting, whether it should be repaired or a new one 
builded, it was decided to repair the old one. It was then 
repaired and enlarged. Previous to the building of this 
house, the meeting had been held at the dwelling house of 
Thomas Baker, for which he had received for every Lord's 
day the sum of eighteen pence. 

Baker was also licensed to keep an ordinary or tavern, 
where the cold temperaments and puritanical bearings of 
the customers of mine host were often modified in an honest 
measure of foaming flij). The act had been passed by the 
General Court that no more than half a pint of " strong 
water" should be drank at one sitting among tour persons, 
and no one was to remain drinking at unseasonable hours. 
Flip was the fashionable beverage of the day, and continued 
to be drank until orchards were in bearing, when it was sup- 
planted by the uoclassical mixture of cider and rum. Play- 
ing at draughts was a favorite amusement with the tavern 
idlers of that time, and in the afternoon of a rainy day, or on 
a winter's evening, might have been generally found that 
meriy and mimicking fellow, John Wooley, with Sam Ben- 



30 EAST HAMPTON. 

net, pottle deep over a game at the ordinary. Sam under- 
took in the Court of the three men to establish his general 
sobriety, but the jury had the conscience to find against him 
with the costs of Court, and John suffered by the decision of 
the Court for jeering his betters. An order was made that no 
rum should be supplied to the Indians, beyond such measure 
as should be permitted by the selectmen or the sachem ; to 
enforce obedience to a rule of such just restraint — so honor- 
able to the town and so kind to the Indian — a severe penalty 
was imposed. 

During the autumn and winter, the whale was a frequent 
visitor on the coast. At these seasons while the weather was 
favorable, a constant look-out was kept from the shore. Per- 
sons were a})pointed by the General Court to designate and 
summon those who were to attend beach ; and a general turn 
out took place, whenever the watch by a wave of his hat or 
coat, gave notice from a lofty pole on the banks of the beach, 
that the great leviathan of the deep was at hand. This enter- 
prise of danger and amusement was then followed to much 
profit. The salary of the clergyman was paid in oil, and it 
was sent to Boston, to procure the necessary articles of West 
India produce, and European manufacture. A weft, as the 
signal given at the station pole was termed, set all the folk 
in motion, and a general shout was raised through the 
settlement. The thrasher and flax dresser in the barn, the 
stump burner and girdler of trees, the log roller and wolf 
hunter, in the fields, as the alarm reached their respective 
stations, all left their various employments, and skirting the 
intervening swamp and pond in the race to the beach, rallied 
upon the shore. The large canoes, which were kept near by, 
were taken to the margin of the sea, borne upon the shoulders 
of the whalemen, and prepared for the launch. Each person 
belonging to the crew jilaced himself beside the boat and op- 
posite the seat he was to occupy in rowing. A favorable 
chance of pushing into the sea, and avoid the breaking wave, 
is watched, when at the words "Now! now!" a simultaneous 
shove is given, each man leaps into his seat, grasps the handle 
of his oar, which has been placed apeak, and with the advan- 
tage of the receding wave, to the general and repeated cry of 
"Pull away," the boat is forced beyond the danger of the 
combing sea. Now, safely afloat upon the ocean, the spout 
of the whale directs the course of the chase, and the cry, 
"There she rises I" imparts added im})ulse to the gliding boat, 
from the vigorous pull of the heai'ty oarsmen. A call from 
the steersman gives early notice of the nearness of the game, 
to the rower in the bow, who, peaking his oar, rises from his 
seat, and prepares for the ap})roaching conflict. As the bow 
of the boat, on the rising of the whale, comes within reach of 



p. AST HAMPTON. 31 

" her " body, the uplifted harpoon is plunged to the halCin her 
black and sbiniug' side, when the reversed movemenx of the 
oars, at the call ''Back, all I" places the boat Avithout the 
reach of danger. Now is the moment of incertitude. If she 
remains on the surface of the water without struggling, the 
lance is thrown into her sides while there is a})pearance of 
life. Perhaps the harpoon has already done the work, and 
with one si)out of blood, she has slowly and heavily rolled 
upon her side, a lifeless carcass. Maybe raising her flukes 
high above the troubled and bloody water, she has plunged 
with rapid motion deep into the abyss of the ocean, drawing 
after her many fathoms of the lengthened line, and then after 
the lai)se of an liour, risen again to float lifeless upon the sea, 
or perhaps, as it oftentimes happens, when made furious by the 
pain of wounds, she has remained upon the surface, now thrash- 
ing the ocean into a foam with her tail, and throwing from 
her nostrils, to a great height, columns of blood, and then 
with incredible swiftness, shooting ahead just under the water, 
and drawing the boat after with like rapidity for miles in 
her course. But as life recedes, her speed giatlually de- 
creases, until the boat being pulled along side of her by the 
fastening line, the well aimed lance shall have reached in its 
plunge the last vital particle. Life being extinguished, the 
boats in line and fastened to each other, (the successful one 
having the honor of being attached to and flrst in distance 
from the ju'lze in towing.) proceed with laboring oar to- 
wards the shore. To meet the fortunate adventurers, and to 
view the monster of the deep, a general gathering of all, 
young and old, who had not been engaged in the pursuit, ap- 
pears upon the beach, and among them the Indian, claiming 
l^arts of the fin and tail, as an oflering to the god of his 
idolatry. The little urchins, too, rolling upon the white sand, 
enjoy in glee the excitement of the event. In groups U])on 
the banks, and along the strand, many are collectecl around 
the adventurers, listening to the thrice told tale of the haz- 
ards of the chase. Success, however, did not always attend 
the enterprise, and, more frequently, the toil of hours ended 
with the " fisherman's luck." Such was then the manner of 
the whale "design,"' as it was termed, and such as it has con- 
tinued to be with little variation till the j)resent time. At 
length the canoe was superseded by the ligliter and more 
beautiful cedar boat, called the whale boat, which rests upon 
the waters with the lightness and gracefulness of the sea 
bird, and whose buoyancy and proportions render its move- 
ments more easy and rapid, and its passage over the surf 
more safe. 

In 1049, the murder of a white woman was jjerpetratetl at 
Southampton, and gave great alarm to the people of that 



82 EASTHAMPTON. 

town. It was done in retaliation by the friends of a Pequot, 
who had been executed there as a murderer; the Indian prin- 
ciple of revenge, as opportunity offered, made her its victim. 
As the whites were at the time ignorant of the causes of the 
murder, and of the persons who had committed it, they were 
apprehensive of the existence of a general feeling of hostil- 
ity among the Indians, and for some time went armed to 
their labors in the field, and to their place of worship on. the 
Sabbath. The magistrates supposing the guilty to be of that 
nation, called upon the sachem of the Shinecock tribe to deliver 
them up. He being ignorant, or affecting to be so, of the au- 
thors of the crime, they could gain no information from him. 
Suspecting then the Montaukett tribe might have been con- 
nected with the murder, and not attributing to individual re- 
venge, the commission of tlie deed, as they should have done, 
Gosmer and Howell, who were magistrates of the town, sent 
an Indian to require tlie attendance of Wyandanch before 
them. It happened tliat Lion Gardiner was on a visit to that 
sachem. The Indian messenger arrived at night, after Mr. 
Gardiner had retired to sleep on the couch of his friend. 
The arrival of the messenger was immediately noised abroad, 
and a general meeting of the head men and people was col- 
lected before the wigwam of the chief The story having 
been related, there was a general cry that Wyandanch should 
not go. They believed that if he did go, he would be made 
to suft'er for tiie guilty, and entertained no doubt that as soon 
as the magistrates had him in their possession, they would 
cause him to be put to death. They, therefore, directed the 
messenger to inform the magistrates that their sachem should 
not leave them ; but tliat they would either live there or die 
there with him. This resolution having been declared, and 
silence ensuing for some time, Wyandanch arose to address 
them, for as yet he had only listened to the talk of his peo- 
ple. He inquired whether any of them had been to South- 
ampton within the last three days ; whether any of them 
had expressed any hostile intent against the English, and 
whether any one of them had any knowledge of the murder 
and concealed it To these inquiries he was answered in the 
negative. He then proposed to awaken his friend, and sub- 
mit themselves to his advice and direction. Sui)posing him 
to have been asleep during their debate, Wyandanch related 
the story and the talk to Gardiner ; but he had already heard 
it ; he had not slept, but expecting to be questioned, had 
prepared his answer. He advised Wyandanch as the only 
means of dispelling their causeless jealousy, which he re- 
gretted much should have been entertained of so good a 
friend to the English, to obey at once the mandate of the 
magistrate ; to depart immediately, speed his way as fast as 



E AST H AMP TON. 33 

possible to the tribe of bis brother, the Shinecock sachem, and 
find out the murderer. That in the mean time (although as 
soon as the moon had risen he had intended to have returned to 
his island), he woukl remain as a hostage with the tribe for his 
safety. That should the magistrates bind or liill him, he 
would submit himself to a like punishment. To this the 
head men replied, " Wurrenger ! Wurrenger !" It is well ! 
It is well ! And the tribe, with loud and joyous cry, shouted 
their thanks. With a note from Gardiner to the magistrates, 
Wyandanch set forth. The English were requested to give 
him food and drink as he went, but not to stay him, "for he 
had his way before him." That same night, after traveling 
upwards of thirty miles he discovered three Indians, who 
had been either principals or accessories to the murder, and 
brought them before the magistrates in the morning These 
Indians, one of whom was a chief called the Blue Sachem, a 
person of much consequence, were sent to Hartford for trial, 
and convicted and hung. 



CHAPTER VI. 

In 1651, Poggatacut, sachem of Monhanmck-Aliaquazmva- 
muck, which was the Indian name of Shelter Island, died, 
and was succeeded by Wyandanch, his brother, as great 
sachem of Long Islantl. Poggatacut had exhibited uniform- 
ly less friendship for the English, and had generally dis- 
countenanced by his advice that preference in his brother. 
Beyond what was necessary to protect himself against the 
enmity of the white men, he had never shown them any fa- 
vor. He cautiously avoided much intercourse with them, 
and whenever Wyandanch sought his advice, had uniformly, 
when the question was between the Indian and the English, 
sided with the former. When he could covertly protect them 
without danger to himself from the vengeance of the Avhites, 
the Indians were certain to receive his assistance. He there- 
fore often prevented that punishment for their crimes which 
was sought at the hands of Wyandanch, by an exercise in their 
favor of his authority as great sachem. When a powerful 
brave, who resided near the Dutch, had rendered himself ob- 
noxious by the murder of two Englishmen, William Ham- 
mond and Thomas Farrington, he prevented Wyandanch from 
fulfilling his promise to Mr. Gardiner of bringing to him the 
head of the murderer, and it was not until the death of his 
brother, that the sachem could redeem his word. The Indian 
had powerful connections, was a giant in strength, and his 
6 



34 E AS THA MP T O If. 

friends, as well as himself, knowing the intentions of Wyan- 
daneh, were watchful of his safety. But the chief had passed 
his word ; the doom of the man was fixed, and shortly after 
the death of his brother, Wyandanch accomplished the exe- 
cution of his purpose, in the destruction of tlie murderer. 

The decease of the sachem Poggatacut was an important 
event with the Indians. His remains were transported for 
burial from Shelter Island to Montauk. In removing the 
body, the bearers rested the bier by the side of the road lead- 
ing from Sag Harbor to Easthampton, near the three mile 
stone, where a small excavation was made to designate the sj)ot. 
From that time to the 2)resent, more than one hundred and 
eighty years, this memorial has remained as fresh, seemingly 
as if but lately made. No leaf, nor stone, nor other thing, has 
been suffered to remain in it. The Montaukett tribe, though 
reduced to a beggarly number of some ten or fifteen drunken 
and degraded beings, have retained to this day the memory 
of this event, and no individual of them now passes the spot 
in his wanderings, without removing whatever may have 
fallen into it. The place is to them holy ground, and the ex- 
hibition of this pious act does honor to the finest feelings of 
the human heart. The excavation is about twelve inches in 
depth, and eighteen in diameter, and will probably continue 
undisturbed, until the active spirit for improvement which is 
abroad shall have reached this district, and forced its way 
over the present barbarous road into the secluded grounds of 
the adjoining village. 

In 1658, when Mr. Gardiner left his island in the care of his 
farmers and son, and removed to Easthampton, much alarm at 
that time, and tor two or three of the following years, prevailed 
at this and the settlement at Southampton, from the rumor that 
the Dutch were inciting the Indians to a war with the Eng- 
lish. The conduct of the Montauketts was particularly dis- 
trusted, and it was forbidden to furnish them with powder 
and lead. An additional supply of both those articles was 
sent for to Connecticut. Rum was forbidden to be sold to 
the Indians in any quantity. A more rigid police was adopt- 
ed, and " ward and watch" kept by day and by night. The 
sale of provisions to the Indians was also interdicted, and 
they were foibidden without special leave to come within the 
clearings of the settlement. The burning of several build- 
ings in Southampton was charged to the JMontaukett tribe, 
and tended to increase the alarm. In the month of Ai)ril of 
the same year, it was also resolved " tiiat no Indian should 
*' come to the town unless on s})ecial occasion, and that none 
"should come armed because that the Dutch have hired In- 
" dians against the English, and because the Indians have 
" cast ofl' their sachem." In June of the next year, the town 



E A S T H A M P TO N. 35 

declared " that having considered the letters that came from 
" Connecticut, wherein men are required to assist the power of 
'•England against the Dutch, we (lo notthink ourselves called 
*' to assist the said power." The strong prejudices of the 
English against the Dutch, and their great desire to oust 
them from their possessions in this country, gave some col- 
oring probably to these charges and com])laints. The Dutch 
denied any connection with the Indians, inconsistent with 
the most friendly disposition toward the English, and what- 
ever might have been the projects of the parties, separate- 
ly or collectively, it is certain they were guilty of no 
overt act of hostility. The Montaukett Indians were in a 
situation of too much peril to add to their troubles by any 
misunderstanding with their English neighbors. The Nar- 
ragansetts who had for some time smothered an animosity 
they had long felt against them on account of the exposure 
of the perfidy of Ninicraft, and the preference which Wyan- 
danch had shown for the friendship of the English, had be- 
come their open enemies. 

In the year 1655, the Montaukett sachem was accused by 
Ninigret and others of murdering, many years before, near 
the Long Island shore, J. W. Drake and some other English- 
men, and seizing their goods, treacherously assaulting Nini- 
gret on Block Island, and killing many of his men after 
having concluded a peace, and also of having hired a witch 
to kill Uncas, and the Milford sachem and his son, giving 
therefor eight fathoms of wampum, and promising an hun- 
dred and twenty more. Wyandanch appeared before the 
Commissioners, denied the whole charge, and he was ac- 
quitted, his accusers not appearing, although summoned. 
Capt. Young, with whom he went before the Commissioners, 
says that both the English and Indians in those parts be- 
lieved him innocent. 

Ninicraft, the most powerful of the Narragansett sachems, 
had, by his great plausibility of conduct in his intercourse 
with the government of Massachusetts Bay, induced them 
in some degree to shut their ears against the representations 
unfavorable to his integrity. Mr, Gardiner endeavored, with 
much anxiety, to awaken the New England colonies to the 
danger of suffering Ninicraft to proceed in his hostile acts 
against the Montauketts. He considered that the defeat and 
destruction of Wyandanch and his people would produce a 
combination among the eastern and northern Indians in a 
bloody war against the English generally. He urged that as 
Wyandanch had, during the Pequot war, greatly distinguished 
himself against the common enemy, he was entitled to much 
consideration at their hands ; that the war was waged by the 
Narragansetts against this sachem out of the hatred they. 



36 E AS T HAMP TO N. 

bore him for his attachment to the English, and yet he had 
received no acknowledgment for the glory and honor that 
had resulted to the nation, from his wisdom and valor in 
the war in which they were confederates; that while 
the twelve penny Chronicle of jS^ew Enghmd was stuffed with 
the names of some as if they deserved immortal fame, the 
right New Enghind military worthies were left out for want 
of room, and the sachem Wyandanch, at the Great Swamp, 
and ever since their trusty friend, was forgotten, and suf- 
fered to be })er.secuted with fire and sword ; that in fact this 
sachem had stood in the gap between them and a murderous 
Indian war, and ought to have received that honor and pro- 
tection which the Jewish Mordecai received of the king'. He 
added that he himself had been for twenty-four years in the 
perils of the country, and though he could not with certainty 
say what would thereafter happen to them, yet he feared 
they were to drink deeply from the cup of affliction ; that he 
was old and out of date, but for his part woulcJi rather die a 
soldier in the field with honor, than be left to the mercy of 
the Indians; and he yet hoped they would prepare for the 
conflict before they were impelled to it by the destruc- 
tion of the best men in the country. 

The solicitations of Mr. Gardiner, however, did not avail. 
The Commissioners at Boston summoned some of the Nar- 
ragansett sachems before them, but declined or neglected to 
interfere. Had his advice been followed, and the Narra- 
gansetts reduced to full submission, the war which after- 
wards took place with that nation under Philip, had not prob- 
ably ha})pened. The government of Rhode Island communi- 
cated to the government of Massachusetts that Ninicraft, 
" without any cause that he doth so much as allege, fell upon 
"the Long Island Indians, our friends and tributaries, and 
"killed many of them, and took others prisoners and would 
" not restore them, and that he had drawn down to his aid 
" many of the Mohawks." 

Wyandanch having learned that Ninicraft was upon Block 
Island, proceeded there with a formidable force, and arrived 
about midnight; when coming upon the Narragansetts, he 
slaughtered about thirty, two of whom were personages of 
great note, and one the nephew of the sachem. Subse- 
quently, Ninicraft passed over to Montauk, burned the wig- 
wams, sacked the barns, destroyed the corn flelds, killed many 
of the princijjal warriors of the tribe, and made captive four- 
teen women, among whom was the only daughter of Wyan- 
danch. Tradition has it that at the time of the descent of 
the enemy, the nuptial festivities on the occasion of the 
marriage of this daughter of the sachem, were celebrating, 
and the Indians less watchful than usual, were surprised in 



EASTHAMPTON. 37 

the midst of the revels of the night. Among the warriors 
who were shvin, fell the bridegroom of the youthful princess. 
The deep afliiction of the father at the loss of his daughter 
can well be iniagined, and the ardent affection which he 
maintained for his chikl was in part evidenced in the pres- 
ent he made upon her redemption. 

The Connnissfbners, at the solicitation of Mr. James and 
Mr. Gardiner, now sent military supi)lies to the towns of 
of Easthampton and Southampton, and to the persecuted 
Indians; and employed an armed vessel, commanded by 
Capt. Young, to prevent the passage of Ninicraft's canoes 
across the sound. They also sent a small force into the 
country of the Narragansetts, but it was rendered ineffectual 
by the incompetence of the command. In 1656, the Massa- 
chusetts Commissioners declined to render any further as- 
sistance, and aid was for a short time given by the colonies 
of Hartford and New Haven. Wyandanch, in the same year, 
visited the Commissioners, at Boston, and in consideration of 
the distresses which had befallen them, obtain-ed a remis- 
sion of the tribute which had been exacted of him since the 
Pequot war. He was now left to contentl alone against a 
vastly superior force, and the war was continued between 
the Narragansetts and Montauketts with great cruelty; but- 
as it was confined to the Indians, few^ of the events are 
known. Long before the cessation of hostilities, Gardiner 
had redeemed the daughter of Wyandanch from captivity, 
and returned her to her father. 

On the 22d of May, 1658, Wyandanch, by writing, con- 
ferred on the people of Easthampton the privilege of pastur- 
ing their cattle on Montaukett for seven years, and' the 
refusal of the purchase of the land in case the Indians 
should wish to sell it This was the hrst contract of the 
whites with the Indians relating to Montaukett ; that penin- 
sula consisted of about nine thousand acres, conmiencing at 
Neapeag, the termination of the first purchase of the 
whites, and extending easterly to the point, called by the 
Indians, Warn pom imwn There was comprised within this 
tract a large extent of excellent land, well wooded with 
heavy timber of the white antl black oaks. The annual 
burning of the woods and marshes, in the month of March, 
kept down the underbrush, afforded fresh feed for the deer, 
and enabled the Indians more easily to prepare the ground 
for corn, which they raised in great quantity. There are a 
number of extensive plains, but the general character of the 
land is elevated and hilly, without being much broken, resem- 
bling, in a remarkable (legree, the agitated and swollen waves 
of the ocean. Hence the name Montaukett, which signifies 
"hilly country." The land is well watered with springs and 



38 E AS T HAMP TON . 

fresh ponds, and one of the latter covers not less than five hun- 
dred acres, to a depth in some places of from fifteen to twenty 
feet. Upon the north side of this tract were iought the 
many fierce and bloody battles instigated by the animosity 
which had ever subsisted between the Indian inhabitants and 
the Narragansetts. The many extensive ^wamps rendered 
the country peculiarly fit for Indian warfare, offering to the 
attacked places of seclusion and defense. On the highest 
hill to the north of and contiguous to a pond called, by the 
Indians, Konkhunganok, and by the English, Fort Pond, is 
a burial gi'ound, where was situated the new fort of the 
sachem, Wyandanch. Another fort had stood at the western 
extremity of the land, and near a pond called, by the natives, 
Quannontowunk, and by the whites, Fresh Pond, but had 
then gone to decay. The burial place at Burying Ground 
Point, on the western shore of Great Pond, and after it the 
one at Fort Pond, are the most ancient in the land. There 
are others to the east of Great Pond and to the west of Fort 
Pond. The Indian names of places in this region have been 
either superseded by the English synonym or entirely for- 
gotten. It is only by much research that a few can be re- 
covered. 

During the years 1658 and 1659, a sickness prevailed 
among the Indians throughout Long Island, which occa- 
sioned great mortality. Nearly two-thirds of them were cut 
off. The diminution of their race, which had so speedily 
and extensively followed the appearance of the strangers on 
their coast, was more rapidly accelerated by disease, and 
those of them who had escaped the design of the white man, 
and the result of their own unhappy dissensions, were stricken 
down indefinitely by the })estilence. AVyandanch was among 
those who at this time perished, not however under the 
calamitous disease which had so much thinned the ranks of 
his warriors and destroyed whole families of his people, but 
by the stealthy administration of poison. Having now lost 
their chief, upon whom they had so long relied, and be- 
ing reduced to great extremity by sickness, the Montauketts 
sought the protection of the people of Easthampton. By 
them they were hospitably received, and kindly relieved and 
protected. 

Wyandanch had in 1659, the last year of his life, conveyed by 
deed to Sanmel Willis, of Hartford, then a principal person- 
age in the government of Connecticut, the island now called 
Plum Island, situated at the western entrance to Gardiner's 
Bay, and in the same year, he had transferred to Lion Gar- 
diner the territory now called Smithtown, in gratitude for the 
many kind and friendly offices which he had extentled to him 
during their acquaintance. He left a wife whose name was 



EASTHAMPTON. 39 

Wuch-i-kil-taw-but, and two children, a son and a daughter. 
It was that daughter whom Gardiner ransomed from cap- 
tivity. Weon-com-boue was the name of the son. Wyandanch 
admitted no equal in the government of his peo])le, but 
stood alone chief of the tribe. While he exercised the sov- 
ereignty as great sachem of Long Island, his powerful mind 
was more generally its own counsellor; and though he suf- 
fered most severely in the wars with the Narragansetts, his 
proud, independent spirit would yield to no terms derogatory 
to the prowess of his nation. When his people in U!53, 
from the intrigues of unfriendly Indians and abandoned 
whites, were, to the great alarm of the neighboring settle- 
ments, for a short time in open rebellion to his government, 
such was his extraordinary mastery over their passions that, 
undaunted and unaided, he soon recalled them to their duty 
and allegiance. In his death, the English lost a warm and 
devoted friend. His attachment for tlie whites, though he 
sometimes suffered from them great provocation, never 
wavering, and the commanding influence which he possessed 
over the Indian tribes of the island, was ever exercised to 
prevent any hostile movements against them. 



CHAPTER VII. 

The expenses attendant the organization and government 
of the town in its civil and criminal administration, in the 
allotment and distribution of lands, in the opening of high- 
ways, in the erection of public buildings, in the procurement 
and support of religious instruction and general education, 
and many minor charges necessary consequent, were assessed 
and collected from all inhabitants who were owners of the 
soil, in proportion to their respective rights and interests 
therein. These were the first objects of pecuniary charges 
upon the settlers, but in a few years those calamities to 
which humanity is liable, added to the list the tax of jjauper- 
ism, which was levied and collected in like manner. Lands 
only were first made subject to taxation. The taxes were 
first regulated by the General Court, and collected by the 
constable who was also authorized to levy the amount upon 
goods or lands in case of refusal of payment. As money was 
to be had for many years but in very limited amounts, pay- 
ment of taxes, of mutual engagements, and of the judgments 
of the Court for debts and damages, were made in wheat, 
jvampum, cattle, whale oil, and Indian corn, at fixed prices. 



40 EASTHAMPTON. 

In 1654, the value of wheat was fixed at four and six pence 
per bushel. This was termed "good merchantable pay," be- 
ing such payment as was received by merchants in exchange 
for articles of foreign merchandize. 

For many years, one pauper only was chargeable to the 
town — a wandering female who, without relations and with- 
out friends, was admitted to their hospitality, and subse- 
quently, in sickness and misfortune, received their humane 
assistance. Having no physician regularly settled among 
themselves, their kindness was extended to her in the pro- 
curement at the public charge, for many years and at great 
expense, of medical aid from New York, and the Dutch set- 
tlements on the island. 

The labor necessary for the opening and construction of 
highways was exacted of each individual assessed, without 
commutation, and the lands so appropriated were held as the 
property of the town. The common law disposition was not 
adopted, and the labor being rigidly enjoined, the highways 
were earlier cleared of timber, bushes and stumps, than the 
lands of individuals. Over most of the highway, cattle were 
not permitted to feed or loiter. They were hired out by the 
proprietors to individuals as unallotted land for mowing and 
pasturing; more securely to protect them against tres- 
passers, fences were permitted to be placed across those 
leading from the main street. Every individual was re- 
quired, in 1654, to remove within a limited time the stumps 
then remaining to the middle of the road opposite his pos- 
sessions, and few of these obstructions remained after that 
period. The highways were marked previous to the allot- 
ment of lands, and a public road was laid out along the line 
of each general division. 

These general divisions were divided into lots, bounded in 
part by a highway, and generally each containing tlie portion 
ot one individual ; but where this portion was small a num- 
ber was joined in one allotment, which was afterwards sub- 
divided among the several owners. Tliese divisions and al- 
lotments continued to be made at intervals, at first by an 
order of the proprietors at a general meeting. After the 
patent was granted, and until a division of the most valuable 
part of tiie first purchase was completed, they were made by 
the direction of the trustees nt their legal meetings, when 
also surveyors and commissioners were a})pointed to eflect 
the partition. The last division made was a tract of land 
called Alewive Brook Neck, The lands which still remain 
undivided were not considered of much value. They are all 
held in tenancy in common, and are subject yet to allotment 
among the heirs or assigns of the original purchasers when- 
ever any of them may require it. Books were provided for 



p. AS T H AMP TO N. 41 

registering each man's allotment of land. The first allot- 
ment was of house lots, of from eight to twelve acres, lying 
along the main street in regular succession ; to these addi- 
tions were made as their wants required. The additions and 
all sales and purchases were regularly entered into a 
booli appropriated for that purpose, forming for many years 
a continuous record of each man's interest in the settlement. 
Whenever any one disposed of his land, it was on the record 
subtracted from his possessions, and added to those of the 
purchaser. By this means, a just assessment was readily 
made of each man's taxes. 

For the purpose of depasturing and tillage, large tracts 
were enclosed in a circular fence, and persons were api)ointed 
at the General Court to apportion to each settler the quantity 
of fence he was to build and keep in re})air. First the west- 
ern phiins, and afterwards the eastern plains, were improved 
for this purpose, and continued to be so until they were 
allotted in severalty in the proportion of each man's riglit. 
Within these limits, under the care of a keeper, the cows of 
the town and the cattle fattening grazed at large. The Mill 
Plain was for many years in part cultivated for garden pur- 
poses, each family having sufficient for its wants laid out 
within district limitations, but all being enclosed in one cir- 
cular fence. This manner of fencing was generally adopted 
throughout the colonial settlements, and they were authorized 
by statute to enforce regulations in relation to its erection 
and support. The highway act still retains this authorization, 
though the mode of fencing, the cause of the fundamental 
enactment, has long since ceased to exist. The learned revisers 
retained the clause probably from ignorance of its history, 
and the future historian may refer to the statutes as author- 
ity, that at the period of the revision all private gartlens were 
enclosed with circular fences, and particularly regulated by 
the laws of town meetings. In this manner, we find errors 
of a more important nature creeping into history. 

One of the greatest cares of the settlers after providing for 
their families a comfortable establishment, was the erection 
of a school house, and the engagement of teachers. At first 
the teacher received £80 sterling a year, and to induce a 
general attendance at school of the children of the settlement, 
a small part only of the whole charge was fixed upon the 
scholars, and the residue collected by a general tax upon the 
inhabitants. Charles Barnes, one of the first settlers, was for a 
number of years the instructor. He was the son of William 
Barnes, a gentleman of Eastwinch, in the County of Norfolk, 
England, who died in 16(>o, leaving him a portion of his 
estate. Barnes was succeeded b}^ James lloldworth in '78, 
and he by Peter Benson, of the West Riding of Yorkshire, 
6 



42 EAST HAMPTON. 

on Long Island, who was employed at the increased salary 
of £50 sterling a year. In lt)82, the school consisted of 
twenty-nine scholars. The great importance of education 
and the necessity of competent teachers, was a subject which 
had very seriously occupied tiie minds of the magistrates ; 
and their efturis, seconded by those of the inhabitants, had 
been >ednl()asly and successfully devoted to the maintenance 
of a sufficient school. These efforts, which for a series of 
yeais were sustained at the charge of the town, gave such 
impulse to the desire of instruction, that the school house 
was seldom vacant. The standard of education was not at 
this ])eri()d very high, but it was at least equal to that which 
prevailed over a great })artof the country, and fully sufficient 
for the tiansaction of business in the ordinary concerns of 
life. Limited as their sources of knowledge were, it Avas 
through them that this small community became, as the pub- 
lic records abundantly attest them, to have been so well ac- 
quainted with their political rights, and so watchful in sustain- 
ing them. So deeply impressed were they with the imjxtrtance 
of education to the prosperity of the colony, so sensil)ly did 
they ieel that the eliurts of their little community were alto- 
gether inadequate to provide even within its own small circle 
the proper means of intellectual improvement, that the peo- 
ple of this town, as eaily as 1678, called the attention of the 
established government to the importance of providing capa- 
ble teachers. A resolution in the following words was pro- 
posed and adopted in that year, at a public meeting of the 
inhabitants. "It was agreed by a majority vote to refer the 
"necessary employment of teachers, to the right honorable 
"the governor, and Court of Assizes." No public provisions, 
however, a])pear to have been made. Sir Edmund Andross 
was at that time governor, under the Duke of York, and 
doubtless the members from the Ikiding zealously re})resented 
to him the wishes of their constituents. But a subject so 
vitally important to the welfare of the country, and to the 
preservation of the rights and liberties of the people, seems 
to have been treated with negligence, if not with indifference. 
At the session of the General Assembly in 1702, Lord Corn- 
buiy recommended the establishment of schools, but the 
jealousy of the house of the intentions of this bigoted i)npist, 
was such that his recommendation was not seconded by them. 
Until the administration of Governor Cosby, no laws were 
passed relating to })ublic instruction. The schools of the 
town continued to be a subject of special interest, and in 
178-i, an academy for classical instruction was erected, being 
the first instituted under the State. As early as 1711, and in 
the following years, when a classical education was not easily 
obtained, and the number of graduates at the few colleges 



EAST HAMPTON. 43 

then established was very limited, Harvard and Yale num- 
bered several from this town in the list of their students and 
graduates. 

The town continued a government under their own volun- 
tary unwritten compact, subject to the su])ervision of the 
General Court appointed by the assemblage of peo])le, inde- 
pendent of the other settlements for eight or nine years. In 
1655, they entered into the following written and more for- 
mal social compact:* 

" For as much as it has pleased the Almighty God by the 
" wise dispensation of his providence so to order and dispose 
"of things that we, the inhabitants of Easthampton, are now 
"dwelling together, the Word of God requires that in order 
"to maintain the peace and union of such a people, there 
" should be an orderly and a decent government estab- 
" lished, according to God, to order and dispose as occasion 
"shall require. We do, therefore, sociate and conjoin our- 
" selves and successors to be one town or corporation, and do 
" lor ourselves and successors and such as shall be adjoined 
" to us at any time hereafter, enter into combination and 
" confederation together to maintain and })i'eserve the purity 
" of the gosj)el of our Lord Jesus Christ Avhich we now pos- 
" sess as also the discipline of the church, which, according to 
" the truth of said gospel, is now practised among us ; as also 
" in our civil affairs to be guided and governed by such laws 
" and orders as shall be made according to God, and which, 
"by the vote of the major part, shall be in force among us. 
" Furthermore, we do engage ourselves that in all votes for 
"choosing officers or making orders, that it be according to 
" conscience and our best light. And also we do engage our- 
" selves by this combination to stand to and maintain the au- 
" thority of the several officers of the town in their deter- 
" minations and actions, according to their orders and laws, 
"that either are, or shall be made, not swerving therefrom. 
" In witness whereof," &c., &c. 

In 1655, a committee of two persons, and again in 1657, a 
committee of three persons was sent to Connecticut, to treat 
with the magistracy concerning placing the settlement under 
the protection of that colony. The latter committee con- 
sisted of Lion Gardiner, Thomas Baker and John Hand. 
They were instructed to discuss this matter with the authori- 
ties of Connecticut, but to do no act which should commit 
their constituents in any manner before submitting to them 
the result of tiie conference. This cautiousness of acting, 
was a prominent trait in all their political connections, and 
they generally put off to a future day a conclusion which 



44 EASTHAMPTON. 

was not immediately required. This seems to have been, in 
a great degree, characteristic of the puritans. It is to be 
seen in the conduct of the Hay Company, and also that of 
Connecticut, at the same period. Governor Winthrop says : 
" Being Avary, we consented doubtingly. * " It was agreed 
" to negatively. * * Being doubtful, we returned answer 
" witliout determining of either side." It was their settled 
])olicy to do nothing in haste which could be put off for re- 
flection. 

The community formed, as already related, appears to have 
been well contented with the management of their own af- 
fairs, and to have at first in fact preferred to keep aloof 
from any connection with a superior power by which their 
importance would be absorbed, and their independence con- 
trolled. But they soon found themselves exposed to the 
hostility of the Dutch in the war raging between that nation 
and the English, and to the intrusion of foreign Indians who, 
seeking to gratify in blood their ancient animosities, were 
prowling about the territory of the Montauketts. With these 
dangei-s, they were little able to contend. They therefore yield- 
ed to the necessity of a union with Connecticut, and in this year 
1657, submitted themselves to her jurisdiction so far as to be 
entitled to her protection. The union continued until 1662, 
when a charter was granted to Connecticut by the second 
Charles. Until that time, although this town was represented 
by a deputy in her councils from 1658, no political jurisdic- 
tion was exercised over the town ; her acts were merely ad- 
visory. The first deputy was John Mulford. He was among 
the first settlers, and executed the office of selectman, and 
subsequently of justice of the peace, for many successive 
years. From 1659 to 1660, Robert Bond was deput}"", and 
subsequently Thomas Baker. 

In 1657, a charge of witchcraft was preferred against 
Goody Garlick, the wife of Joshua Garlick, an inhabitant of 
the town. It was the cause of great excitement, and the 
charge was attempted to be sustained by numerous affidavits. 
No less than five men and eight women deposed to facts 
which, in their estimation, constituted the crime of witch- 
craft, of which Mrs. Garlick was accused. The malignant 
eye, the sickness and the death of cattle, the languishment 
and decease of children, the torments of the pricking of pins, 
the infliction of pains upon the well and sick, the blasts of 
the atmosphere by droughts, and unseasonable frosts upon the 
growing corn, and the extraordinary medical effects produced 
by simples in the cure of the sick, were all subjects of accusa- 
tion. The usual accompaniment of apj)aritions, black cats and 
harlequin devils, which had alarmed and tormented the sub- 
jects of witchery, were not omitted. Much debate arose in the 



EASTHAMPTON. 45 

General Court, before which the charge against Goody Gar- 
lick had been made, as to the manner of proceeding in the 
case. The statute of the 5th of Elizabeth against witchcraft, 
was not accessible to them, and their being no demonological 
jurisconsult among the magistrates, they determined by a 
majority vote to refer the case to the judicial tribunals of 
Hartford. These tribunals had arraigned and executed a 
witch in IG-iT, and liaving thus had practical knowledge, 
were, in the opinion of the General Court, competent to sit 
in judgment u])on Goody Garlick. She was therefore ordered 
to be taken to Connecticut, by Thomas Baker and John Hand, 
" for the trial of the cause of witchcraft, of which she is sus- 
" pected." That she was ever taken there, does not appear from 
the records. Possibly the Court thought better of the sub- 
ject, as there was those among them who were desirous of 
saving her from the fate of this delusion. Mr. Gardiner 
charged upon one of the witnesses the death of her own child, 
the cause of which she attributed to the witchcraft of Goody 
Garlick. Both the women had been employed in his house- 
hold on his island. The witness had, for wampum-peag, 
taken an Indian child to nurse, and thus, for the love of money, 
starved her own. To escape the odium and criniinalty of her 
conduct, she took advantage of the unjust suspicion against 
Goody Garlick to charge her with its death. This and other 
facts might have led to a reconsideration af her case, as noth- 
ing more of the aflfair is known. We are not to infer any 
gross ignorance on the part of these people, from this delu- 
sion which had overcome them. If a majority of them be- 
lieved in the existence of witches and apparitions, what peo- 
ple in that age did not admit the reality of these fictitious 
beings. Every country, both earlier and later, was more or 
less afflicted with this absurd and frightful superstition. 
The accounts of trials and punishments for witchcraft in 
Massachusetts, long afterwards, exceed all rational credulity ; 
and were they not attested by judicial records and contem- 
porary historians, such horrors would not at this day be be- 
lieved. In England, the acts against witchcraft were not re- 
pealed until 1726, during the latter part of the reign of 
Queen Anne, and even some of the most eminent civilians 
were then infected with a belief in the reality of the of- 
fense. 

The buildings at first erected having answered their tem- 
porary purpose, others of a more permanent character were 
now constructed. They were built attcr the same fashion of 
those iu New England. Their outward form and architecture 
much resembled the salt box which hung in the kitchen of 
every house, and which was humorously said to have formed 
the model of the builders throuijhout the New England set- 



46 E AS T H AMP TO N. 

tlements. They were undoubtedly formed after the style of 
the Netherlands, where many of the puritans had temporarily 
resided. Some of this class of buildings are still to be seen in 
the early settlements along the eastern coast. They bore all a 
strong likeness to one another, and seemed to be the cast of one 
brain. The roof was peaked — one side extending down to 
Avithin seven or eight feet of the ground, the other shortened 
sufficiently to admit of two stories of windows at the front. 
To gain a southerly exposure, the buildings were generally 
laced in that direction, and hence in many cases presented a 
gable, and sometimes even the rear to the street. The win- 
dows were small, tilled with diamond shaped panes of glass 
set in sashes of lead, o])ening outwards upon hinges Some 
of these houses are still to be seen with their peculiar exte- 
rior, though, in a small degree, modernized by alterations of 
sashes and glazing. The buildings were all of wood, and 
soon acquire, by exposure to the weather, a sombre hue, 
which gave to the village a gloomy aspect. Along the street 
and around the houses, fences were made of pales of from 
six to eight feet in height, firmly set in the ground. They 
were fashioned from large timber rifted, and were intended 
to afford security against Indian aggression, and the approach 
of the voracious wolf The fences were continued long after 
the occasion of their first erection had ceased, and were to be 
seen more than a hundred years subsequent around the farm 
yards and gardens. 

The interior of the houses varied in finish with the abil- 
ity of the owner, but, in most of them, the partition walls 
were fancifully ])anneled with wainscoting, after the fashion 
of the days of Elizabeth and Charles. The dark blue paint, 
which covered the panel work, was long the prescribed mode. 
The chimney was of enormous dimensions, with a most ca- 
pacious fireplace in the dining room and kitchen. On each side 
of the fire, and along each jamb, was placed a bench under the 
chimney flue, affording a comfortable seat on a winter's even- 
ing to some six or eight boys or men, without interfering with 
the Now Year log. New Year's Eve was kept here as merry as 
Christmas in England — the latter holy day being eschewed 
by the Presbyterians as smelling too strong of high church 
and po})ery. The old year often left a merry set still sitting 
upon the benches with a New Year's log in full glow, and the 
mug of flip, the pipe, and the song, often kept the hearts of 
the levellers merry until morning twilight. [Among those 
most fiequent at these merry makings and husking frolics, 
was Daniel Fairfield, who with a sober countenance, bore a 
leering eye under his slouched broad brimmed beaver, and 
dressed in a russet grey jerkin, with shorts, and galligaskins, 
tied with leather thongs over his broad toed shoes, was the 



EASTHAMPTON. 47 

merry-andrew of the village. He was a stranger, but his use- 
fulness as a laborer at all work, gained him liberty of domicil. 
Daniel liked right well these jollifications, and as he could 
sing the ditties of the day, he was ever a welcome compan- 
ion. The doleful distich of Barbara Allen, and the bloody 
tale of Robin Hood, were the favorite songs, and they were 
often listened to of a night, by the youngsters, till the furtive 
glance over the sh'oulder, told the mental, if not the visual 
presence of elves, witches and goblins, which were known to 
be abroad about that pei'iod of darkness. With the females, 
Daniel made himself a favorite, by being ever ready to assist 
in drawing a bucket of water at the well, in preparing fuel 
for the oven, and in bearing messages for all the gossips of the 
village. With the boys he was a hail-fellow, as he was bold 
and adroit in all manner of mischief. He was esteemed some- 
what simple, and much of his misbehaviour was therefore over- 
looked by the grave seniors, though he sometimes met with 
reprr.of and punishment. For joining the school boys in 
rebellion against the government of their master, Barnes, whose 
heels were placed in juxtaposition with his head, he was called 
before the town Court, and for presuming upon the kind no- 
tice of the damsels, to venture beyond the bounds of due de- 
corum, he was lined and banished. The folllowing entry 
precedes his banishment. "It is ordered, that when Daniel 
"Fairfield's time is out in May next, that whosoever after- 
" wards shall entertain him, shall be bound in a bond of £20 
"for his good behaviour, and said Daniel be subject to the 
" law.''] On the centre panel of the wainscoting, above the 
fireplace, was cons})icuously hung, when he was not absent 
from home, the good man's watch, and also the keys to the 
outer buildings, all labeled and marked for their respective 
fastenings. Above these was suspended uj)on rough wooden 
brackets, the long old English fowling piece, whose faithful 
trigger never clicked, but to execute the aim of its owner, in 
the death of a deer, a wild cat, or a wolf No western hunter 
ever loved his rifle more dearly than some of our settlers, and 
their descendants their old duck guns. In the corner of the 
room was the cu])board, within which, upon the circular, bril- 
liantly painted shelves, was displayed so as to produce the 
most striking effect, the various table ware, comprising china 
of variegated hues and multifoi'm patterns, and all those 
fanciful articles of domestic economy, so gratifying to the eyes 
of the frugal and tiirifty housewife. To these were added at 
a later day, the silver mug, tankard, and cream cu[). The ar- 
ticles of furniture were somewhat limited, but in the best 
rooms and closets, were generally exhibited upon the walls 
and shelves, the plentiful wardrobe and bedding, which un- 
■wearied female industry had made and accumulated, as well 



48 EAST HAMPTON. 

for the adornment, as the comfort of the present, and the 
future generation. It was the noontide duty to sand neatly 
the floor, and prepare the room for the reception of afternoon 
visitors. On one side of the fireplace, stood the master's arm- 
chair, and on the other, the rocking chair of the mistress. 
Around the walls were arranged, black straight-backed chairs 
with flag, or covered bottoms — these, after the lapse of an 
hundred and fifty years, are again the fashionable tenants of 
the boudoir and saloon. On the walls were hung pictures in 
print of Cain's crime and punishment, or illustrations of the 
career of the Prodigal Son, or some other design of Scripture 
story. The custom of smoking was general among men, and the 
pipe, when not in use, occupied the little stockhole in the chim- 
ney near the fireplace. On a plot, in front, or at the side of 
the house, the little flower garden with its various plants in 
beds, curiously arranged, exhibited the taste, care, and dili- 
gence of the matron or her daughters, while nearby, the little 
patch of tobacco of luxuriant growth promised an abundant 
supply for the master's winter store. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

Connecticut having, in 1662, procured a patent or charter 
from the King, the town of Easthampton was encouraged 
to make an application for a similar favor, and in the 
same year, at the General Court, Mr. James and Mr. Gardiner 
were appointed a committee to consult with Southamp- 
ton upon the subject. These towns then held their posses- 
sions by virtue only of an Indian deed, and prior settlement. 
They became uneasy with regard to their title. The Earl of 
Sterling had relinquished his claim to the island, and it was 
then open to future grant from the crown. We are not in- 
formecl of any further step in the matter, but, in 1663, Mr. 
James and others were appointed a committee to meet com- 
mittees from Southampton and Southold to consider the 
propriety of establishing a government composed of the three 
towns. They probably abandoned the undertaking without 
any further proceeding, as they soon alter submitted to, and 
without doubt encouraged, a .construction of the patent of 
Connecticut embracing Long Island within her jurisdiction. 
The legal jurisdiction being now assumed and admitted, a 
code of civil government was received from the General As- 
sembly convened at llarttbrd. 

Upon the death of Wyandanch, his only son, Weoncom- 



EASTHAMPTON. 49 

bone, was acknowledged, by the Indians and the whites, the 
rightful successor to the sovereignty exercised by his father 
over Long Island, and he is according styled in the records 
of that period, sachem of Pamanack, the Indian name of 
Long Island. His mother, under the name of the sachem or 
Sunq Squa, (dowager queen, the term would seem to imply,) 
exercised, in conjunction with her son or in his name, some 
kind of authority in the management of the Indian concerns. 
He was then in the nineteenth year of his age. 

The Narragansetts now became more bold in their depre- 
dations upon the Long Island Indians, and destroyed great 
numbers of them. Six of the Montauketts were surprised 
and killed by Ninigret on Gull Island, and the insecurity of 
their possessions on Montaukett induced them, in 1660, to 
transfer them to the people of Easthampton, and remove 
near that village for protection. Upon application of the 
Indians, the Commissioners directed the inhabitants to de- 
fend them against the Narragansetts, if they came within 
two miles of the settlement. On the sixth day of August 
of that year, therefore, the Sunq Squa, wife of Wyandanch, 
of late years deceased, and Weoncombone, son of the said de- 
ceased, with the consent of Lion Gardiner and his son David, 
who had been appointed by Wyandanch guardians of his 
son, conveyed the land called Montaukett, from the farthest 
end eastward, called Womponomon, to the extremest bounds 
westward, called Neapeag, to Thomas Baker, Robert Bond, 
Thomas James, and thirty other inhabitants of Easthamp- 
ton, for the consideration of £100, lawful money to be paid 
in two equal annual payments in Indian corn, or good wam- 
pum at six-a-penny. The Indians reserved to themselves the 
right, if they saw fit at some future day, to repossess them- 
selves of and again live upon the land. In 1661, the 11th 
of February, the former deed having been for some cause 
partially revoked, the same parties of the first part, by a 
further deed in consideration of love and affection, con- 
veyed to the ])arties aforesaid, of the second part, a parcel of 
the aforesaid land of Montaukett^ commencing at the western 
end, at a fresh pond in a beach, on the west side, and at the 
old Indian fort on the east side, and extending eastwardly to 
the new fort, at Fort Pond. The grant was preceded by a 
recital, that 

" Whereas, of late years, there having been sore distress 
"and calamities befallen us* by reason of the cruel opposi- 
" tion and violence of our deadly enemy, Ninicraft, sachem 
" of Narragansett, whose cruelty hath proceeded so far as to 
" take away the lives of many of our dear friends and rela- 
"tions, so that we were forced to fly from Montaukett for 
7 



50 EAST HAMPTON. 

" shelter to our beloved friends and neighbors of East- 
'* liampton, whom we found to be friendly in our distress, 
"and whom we must ever own and acknowledge as in- 
" struments under God for the preservation of our lives 
" and the lives of our wives and children to this day, 
"and of the lands of Montaukett from the hands of our 
" enemy, and since our ccmiing amongst them, the relieving 
"us in our extremities fj'om time to time, and now at last 
"we find tiie said inhabitants of Eastham])ton our deliverers, 
"corihial and faithful in tlieir former covenants, leaving us 
"freely to our own liberty to go or stay, being ready to per- 
" form all conditions in the aforesaid agreement." 

To prevent cattle from passing beyond the eastern boun- 
dary, a fence was to be made by the Engl sh on the north, 
and by the Indians on the south of the pond, during the 
term that corn was on the ground. The Indians reserved 
the right of firewood, and of locating their iiouses westerly of 
the Fort Pond, and the deer and canoes that might come on 
shore on the north side. The former gift of the old sachem 
of one-half of the whales that should be cast ashore was 
confirmed to Lion Gardiner and Th(mias James, and the other 
half was given to the inhabitants generally. The Indians 
were to have liberty of land at Easthampton, should they at 
any time be driven from Montaukett. 

Id lf)62, the small pox prevailed among the Indians to so 
great an extent, and with such mortality, as to threaten 
their entire extinction. The wnite people were greatly ex- 
posed, and to prevent the calamity extending to their settle- 
ment, the General Court passed an ordinance that no Indian 
should be sutiered to visit the town exce})t by permission, 
and no white man should go to their wigwams under penalty 
of £5, and a whipping.. Among the victims to this then 
most dreaded and fatal contagion was Weoncombone. the 
young sachem, the only lineal male descendant of the great 
chief Wyandanch. He died at the age of twenty-two. 
Whether his mother or sister long survived him, is not 
known; but as they are not thereafter inenticmed, it is prob- 
able that they also perished by this loathsome disease. The 
blood of the chief who had been for many years a terror to 
his enemies and a benefactor to his friends, whose influence 
and authoiity had been exercised during life over probably a 
million and a half of the human race, like that of the Mingo 
brave, ran not in the veins of a living being. 

Whether the labors of Mr. James had been successful in 
conveiting any of the Indians, is not known ; but a fair pre- 
sumption is from a knowledge of their religious state at a 
much later })eriod, that a great body of them with their chief 



EAST HAMPTON. 51 

retained their ancient faith. That he had bestowed great 
labor in their instruction, appears from a letter of Gov. 
Lovelace, dated November 16th, 1668, thanking him for the 
pains he had taken, and begging him to transmit the cate- 
chism he had di-awn iij) in the Indian language for their 
use, and to translate and forward some chapters of the Bible, 
that he miglit send them to England to be })rinted. 

White intruders upon the Montaukett lands, wlio asserted 
their right by virtue of Indian grants, procured, as it was 
believed, under false rei)resentations and fictitious claims 
of indebtedness, were begiiming to give the inhal)itants much 
trouble and uneasiness. Their claims were consideied by the 
holding morj.'ages upon the land, and were alleged to have 
preceded its purchase by the people of Easthampton. The set- 
tlers having no means of knowing their number and amount, 
were thus liable to be continually harassed. From the Indians, 
they could gain no accurate information regarding these 
claims. Their thoughtless and imprudent conduct in entering 
into engagements which were immediately forgotten, con- 
stantly exposed them to gross impositions. At this period, 
a claim by John Scott, an inhabitant of the town, and John 
Ogden, of Northside, in Southampton, was set u}) to some 
part of the lands by virtue of a debt contracted by Wyan- 
danch, the late sachem. 

Much confusion and excitement appears to have prevailed 
in the political proceedings of the town. The inhabitants 
hesitated for some time between the separate government, 
and a full union with Connecticut. The former, even if they 
could obtain a patent, would, in respect to strength and protec- 
tion, be less desirable than the latter, and the liberal pro- 
visions of the charter of Connecticut suited 'their republican 
predilections. The idea of a separate government, however, 
presented great attractions, and they proceeded so far as to 
raise £150 on their part to })ay for a charter, of which £50 
was chaigeabltB upon the lands of Montaukett. The project 
was never consummated, and, in 1664, the town appointed a 
committee to proceed to Hartford, "to debate about their 
"mutual concernment, but to conclude upon nothing, under- 
" stantling that the governor would come ove*-." Enc(mrage- 
ment was given to a construction of the patent of Connecticut, 
including Long Island in their jurisdiction, and in the month 
of June, the governor and three others came upon the island, 
and proceeded to organize courts and establish rules relative 
to the management of their general affairs. At the same time, 
a code of civil government was received from the General As- 
sembly convened at Hartford. Before these arrangements 
could be carried into etFect, an expedition fitted out by the ' 
Duke of York, to whom his brother, Charles il., had granted J 



52 EASTHAMPTON. 

Long Island, upon its surrender by the Earl of Sterling, to- 
gether with the country occupied by the Dutch, arrived be- 
fore New York. Upon a demand of Colonel NicoUs, the 
Dutch governor after some preliminary arrangements, sur- 
rendered the country. Governor Winthrop, who was present, 
after seeing the letters patent to the Duke of York, relin- 
quished the intended jurisdiction of Connecticut, and gave 
information to the English on the island of what had been 
done. Thus terminated the political j3onnection between this 
town and Connecticut, which had, in one form or another, 
been continued from its first settlement. The change does 
not seem to have been approved by the people, and they re- 
luctantly submitted to the new order of things. With the 
inhabitants of New England, they were closely assimilated 
by the ties of blood, of habits, of religion, and of political 
ideas. 

At a very early day, sometimes a migratory disposition, and 
sometimes the prospect of a better condition, induced the re- 
moval of families and individuals, into other and distant 
portions of the country. Some families emigrated to New 
Jersey, where their names are still found, and have been, and 
are borne by many patriotic and distinguished citizens. Ke- 
movals have since been frequent, to the counties of Orange, 
Ulster, Dutchess, and Rensselaer, and to other counties of the 
state, and not a few of the emigrants, or their descendants, 
have gained honorable distinction in literary, judicial, and 
legislative stations. Besides these removals to remote quar- 
ters, many of the inhabitants lerft the village and located 
themselves in other parts of the territory of the town. 
The foundation of the village of Amagansette, on the east, 
and Wayunscutt, on the west, were laid out at an early 
day, and before 1700, they had nearly reached their pres- 
ent size. The Indian owner of the former was Wat/-un-scuft, 
and of the latter, Am-eag--an-selt. The settlement of Ac- 
cabonack, and the Sj)rings, and of the hjftnlets Jericho, 
Georgika, and Appaquogue, was also made during the ear- 
liest years of the existence of the town. 

In the latter part of the year, 1663, Lion Gardiner had de- 
ceased. During his residence of eight or nine years in East- 
hampton, he had been active in composing the aifairs, and 
promoting the quiet, harmony and prosperity of the com- 
munity. With the natives, to whom he was well known, by 
an intimate asquaintance of many years, his influence was 
constantly exercised, in infusing into their minds favorable 
impressions of the honest motives, and kind disposition of 
their new neighbors. In this he was eminently successful, 
and during their whole intercourse with the natives, the 
whites were never compelled to resort to arms. Mutual offices 



EASTHAMPTON. 53 

of friendship, were in constant practice between them. Some 
misunderstandings did occasionally exist, but none greater 
than often happen between contiguous civilized communities. 
Their intercourse was, in fact, on the most friendly footing, 
and the whites acquired such assistance in the labors of cul- 
tivation, and their domestic employments, as rendered in a 
great degree unfelt the inconveniences that were experienced 
in all the settlements of that ])eriod from the want of wliite 
laborers. The profession of arms, in which he had spent the 
earlier part of his life, inured him to hardshijis, and prepared 
him to contend successfully with the fatigues and hazards of 
life in the wilderness. He had, no doubt, carefully studied 
and watched the manners of the Indians ; he understood their 
language, and by his integrity, decision and bravery, which 
were characteristic of his command of the fort of Saybrook, 
and of his residence on his island, he gained their love and 
admiration. His home and table were ever free, and he was 
generous and kind as well to the stranger as his companions. 
Governor Winthrop, General Mason, and Sir Richard Salton- 
stall, made favorable mention of his hospitality at the fort, 
and acknowledge with the most cordial feelings his acquaint- 
ance and friendship. Mason says, that on his return from 
the Pequot expedition, '' he was nobly entertained by Lieut. 
"Gardiner, who was chief commander at Saybrook Fort, with 
" many great guns, and received from him many courtesies." 
The easy access to the protection of his roof, though often 
abused by the worthless, who took advantage of it to depre- 
date upon his property, was never withheld from those who 
sought it. While at Saybrook, his generosity was evinced in 
the redemption, from the Pequot Indians, of two maidens, 
who had been captured in the attack upon AYethersfield. He 
clothed and fed them, and restored them to their friends, at 
his own private expense, without asking or receiving any re- 
muneration. With all the frankness, gaiety and bravery of an 
old soldier, he possessed the zeal, piety and prudent fore- 
thought which marked the character of the puritans.^ From 
all who knew him he received favor and respect. Kind and 
amiable in his social intercourse, he was yet exact in the.per- 
formance of his own duties, and rigid and persevering in 
requiring the discharge of those due from others. Open to 
persuasion, and yielding to the wishes of his friends, when 
the gratification of their desires did not compromise the in- 
tegrity of his conduct, he was yet firm and decided in the 
maintenance of his independence and honor. Though com- 
paratively few memorials of him are left, yet they abundantly 
show, that as a man, he was honest, intelligent and resolute; 
as a soldier, brave, able and generous. The respect and ven- 
eration of his townsmen was shown in their courteous desig- 



54 EASTHAMPTON. 

nation of him, and in their unsolicited readiness to punish 
what might be deemed offensive. When during the appre- 
hended Dutch war, an individual in the fervor of his patriot- 
ism, declared that he would even strike Mr. Gardiner, if he 
should help the Dutch, it met the censure of the General 
Court. 

Tie patent of Gardiner's Island, granted by the deputy of 
the Earl of Sterling, erected it into a separate and independ- 
ent plantation, with the power to the grantee " to execute and 
"put in i^ractice, such laws for church and civil government, 
" as are agreeable to God, the King, and the practice of the 
"country." The island was not connected in its civil concerns 
with Easthampton ; the residence of its owner on his estate 
in that town, gave him a voice and interest in its affairs. 
Mr. Gardiner, by his last will, devised all of his estate to his 
wife — implying a confidence in her judgment and discretion 
which was not misplaced. His age at his death is not known; 
while in command at Saybrook Fort, he called himself an old 
sohlier, and in 1660, in his Relalion of the Pequut War, he 
mentioned that he had grown old. 

Mrs. Gardiner, whose maiden name was Willemsen, was 
born in the town of Woerden, in Holland, of highly respect- 
able })areuts. She survived her husband only two years. 
What little can be gathered from the records, shows that she 
was a woman of an enlightened and liberal mind, and that 
she received the marked consideration of the people. She 
bequeathed to her son, David, her island, which she entailed, 
and to her daughter, Mary, and grandchild, Elizabeth, all her 
possessions in Easthampton. Her daughter, Elizabeth, who 
was doubtless the first child of British parentage born in the 
colony of New York, died in February, 1657, at the early age 
of sixteen years. Her daughter, Mary, died in June, 1727, at 
the very advanced age of eighty -nine years. They were in- 
terred in the south burial ground in Easthampton. 

David, the first white child born in Connecticut, was prob- 
ably educated in England, where, in the parish of St. Mar- 
garet, Westminster, he married Mary Lerringham, on the 4:th 
of June, 1657. In a petition to Governor Dongan about 1683, 
setting forth his grievances in having his estate joined to 
Long Island, by the General Assembly, without his knowl- 
edge or consent, he states that his father settled Gardiner's 
Island in 1689, "before there was any one Englishman seated 
on Long Island." He afterwards received from Governor 
Dongan the last patent of the island, erecting it a lordship 
and manor, and confirming and extending its privileges. His 
plantation being se^jarate and distinct, it does not appear that 
he often acted on the affairs of the town. He died July 10th, 
1689, at Hartford, Connecticut, where he was engaged in 



EASTHAMPTON. 55 

public business on behalf of the settlers on the eastern part 
of Long Island. On his monument, in the old burial ground 
at Hartford, is inscribed, " Well, sick, dead, in one hour's 
space." What was the immediate cause of his death, is not 
mentioned, and is not known. He had four children — John, 
David, Lion and Elizabeth. 

John inherited the island, and was the third proprietor. 
He was born April 19th, 1661. It was during his life that the 
pirate, Kidd, pillaged the island, and made it the repository of 
his stolen treasures. He lived to the age of upwards of 
seventy-seven years, and died June 25th, 1738. His death 
was caused by a fall from a horse at Groton, Connecticut, 
while on a visit to New London, where he was buried. He 
was four times married, and his sons were David, Samuel, 
John, Joseph, and Jonathan. David inherited the island, 
and a large real and personal property was divided among the 
others. 

David, fourth proprietor, was born January 3d, 1691. He 
was the last owner that could speak the Montaukett language. 
The following entry a})pears on the church records: "1751, 
" July 4th, died Lord Gardiner, aged sixty, having been sick 
"for some months." He was twice married, and had eight 
children. His sons were John, Abraham, Samuel and David. 
John and David were educated at Yale College, and took 
their degrees in 1736. Samuel and David engaged in mer- 
cantile pursuits. Abraham, known as Colonel Gardiner, in- 
herited an estate at Easthampton, where he lived highly es- 
teemed until his death, in the sixty-second year of his age, 
in 1782. 

John became the fifth proprietor of the island. He was 
born June 7th, 1714. A stone in the south burial ground at 
Eastliam|)ton, records the death of " Elizabeth, wife of the 
Hon'ble John Gardiner, Lord of the Isle of Wight," in 1754, 
at the age of forty. After her death, he married Deborah 
Avery, whom he left a widow. (She afterwards married Gen- 
eral Putnam.) He died on the island. May 19th, 1764, and 
was there interred. He had seven children. His sons were 
David, John and Septimus. John eventually settled on 
Eaton's Neck, which he purchased. Septimus entered the 
army, and died at an early age 

David, sixth proprietor, inherited the island, and was 
educated at Yale College, where he graduated, in 1759. He 
married Jerusha, daughter of Samuel Buel, D.D., a lady of 
talents and literary acquirements, a sketch of whose life has 
been given to the public by the Rev'd A. Woolworth. His 
death occured at the early age of thirty-six years, September 
8th. 1774. During the minority of his children, the island 
was for some time under the supervision of his executors. 



56 EASTHAMPTON. 

His sons were John Lyon and David. They took their de- 
grees at the College oi New Jersey, in 1789. David pur- 
chased a farm at Flushing, where he resided, until his death, 
in 1815. 

John Lyon, seventh proprietor, who is recollected with re- 
spect, inherited the island. Local history is indebted to him 
for some curious and important information. He died Nov. 
22d, 1816, in the forty-seventh year of his age, leaving a wife, 
Sarah Griswold, a lady highly respected, and five children. 

David Johnson, eighth proprietor, inherited the island. 
He was educated at Yale College, whence he graduated in 
1824. He died December 18th, 18l:!9, in the twenty-sixth 
year of his age, intestate and without issue. 

John Griswold, ninth proprietor, second son of John Lyon 
Gardiner, is now in possession of the island. It is remarka- 
ble, that since the first proprietor, this island has descended 
from David to John, and John to David in regular succession, 
male issue never having failed, and until the present genera- 
tion the descent from father to son having been unbroken. 
At the present time, there are several families of the name 
of Gardiner, not of this family, who have strayed to Long 
Island, from other parts. 



CHAPTER IX. 

Long Island being now, after the conquest,, incorporated 
with the colony of New York, under the Duke of Y'ork, the 
Deputy Governor, Richard Nicolls, in March, 1665, convened 
a meeting at Hempstead, of two deputies from each town on 
Long Island, and two from Westchester, for the purpose of 
organizing the government. Thomas Baker and John Strat- 
ton, two of the first settlers, were chosen deputies from this 
town. These towns were erected into a shire, by the name 
of Yorkshire, which were divided into three Ridings. The 
towns in Suffolk County formed the East Riding, Among 
other business transacted by the convention, a body of laws, 
called the Duke's Laws, was promulgated ; they superseded 
those under which the towns had previously acted, and were 
continued until 1683. The several towns were recognized as 
established, and were required to take out patents from the 
governor, for the lands within their acknowledged limits. 
A justice of the peace for each town was ap})ointed by the 
governor, and held office during his pleasure. John Mulford 
was appointed for this town. The laws were transcribed, and 



EAST HAMPTON. 57 

furnished to each town. A book of them in a fair hand 
writing still remains, well preserved, in the office of the town 
clerk of Easthampton. These laws and the proceedings of 
the meeting of deputies, were a subject of great complaint, 
and in 16(35, the town appointed a committee " to consider of 
" the means with a committee of Southampton and Southold, 
" for a redress of grievances with respect to government and 
"laws." They remonstrated against the exaction in trade and 
the exclusion of the people from ^participating in legislation, 
in which the governor claimed the exclusive power. In 
1665, in compliance with the laws, a patent bearing date the 
5th day of October, was obtained from Gov. NicoUs by David 
Gardiner, which confirmed the former ]3atent from the deputy 
of the Earl of Sterling, granted to his father, for Gardiner's 
Island. This new patent required that the payment of £5 
annually, which had been reserved to the Earl, should be 
made to the present governor and successors, and declared that 
the grantee, his heirs and assigns, " should enjoy in said island, 
" all such privileges as any towns within that government 
"had or enjoyed, and likewise that the said island should be 
" free from depending on the jurisdiction of any other Towne, 
" both in relation of military affairs and public rates, and 
"solely and only to be accountable for the premises to the 
"governor or his successors." A patent was also obtained 
the next year, bearing date the 13th of March. A deed of 
release was afterwards obtained from Governor Lovelace, 
bearing date the 23d of September. By an agreement made 
before the governor and the General Court of Assizes, Octo- 
ber, 1670, remitting " for divers good causes and considera- 
" tions, and particularly for a sum of money to him in hands 
" paid" the rent of £5 annually, and only reserving, " as an ac- 
" knoAvledgment to his Royal Ilighness, one lamb to be paid 
" on the first day of May yenrly." 

The first General Assembly of the colony, which met in 
1683, joined Gardiner's Island to Long Island, without the 
consent of or knowledge of its proprietor, and notwithstand- 
ing that a distinct existence had been secured and confirmed 
to it by the patents. David Gardiner, in a petition to Gov- 
ernor Dongan the succeeding year, remonstrated warmly 
against this arbitrary act of the assembly invading rights 
sacred to him, for ample consideration, by four agents of 
princes, three of whom had been governors under the then 
reigning monarch. In this petition, he set forth that his island 
had been seated by his father before there was an English- 
man settled on Long Island ; had been held forty-four years 
in i)eaceful possession; had contributed upwards of £280 
to the support of the government, and never had any con- 
nection with Long Island, nor received any assistance what- 



58 EAST II A MPT ON. 

ever from it, even amid the jDerils of the Indian wars. This 
petition led to the grant by Governor Dongan of another, 
being the last patent, bearing date the 11th of Sej^tember, 
1686, in the second year of James II. This patent confirmed 
and ratified those which preceded it, and erected the island 
" into one Lordship and Manor, to be henceforth called the 
" Lordship and Manor of Gardiner's Island." It granted to 
" David Gardiner, and to the heirs and assigns of the said 
" David Gardiner, full power and authority at all times for- 
" ever hereafter, in the said Lordship and Manor, one Court 
" Leet and one Court Baron to hold and keep, at such time and 
" times, and so often yearly as he or they shall see meet." It 
granted also the necessary powers " for holding and keeping 
" of the said Court Leet and Court Baron, to be kept by the 
" heirs and assigns pf the said David Gardiner forever, or 
"their or any of their stewards, deputed and appointed, with 
"free and ample power and authority to distrain for rents, 
" services and against sums of money payable by virtue of 
"the premises ; and all other lawful remedies and means for 
" the having, possessing, recovering, levying and enjoying the 
" premises, and every part and parcel of the same, and all 
" waifs, estrays, happening within the said Lordship and 
"Manor of Gardiner's Island," &c., &c. It also granted 
"advowson and right of patronage, in all and every church and 
" churches, erected or established, or hereafter to be erected 
"or established" in the same, and provides " that the tenants 
"shall meet together and choose assessors after the manner 
" prescribed for cities, towns and counties, by the act of the 
" General Assembly, for defraying the public charge of each 
" respective city, town, &c," the sums raised to be collected 
and disposed of as directed by the same act. The manor was 
" to be holden of his most sacred majesty, his heirs and suc- 
" cessors in free and common socage, according to the tenure 
" of East Greenwich, in the kingdom of England," yielding 
and })aying therefor yearly, " one lamb on the first day of 
" May, at New York, in lieu of all services whatsoever." 

By an agreement made before the governor and General 
Court of Assizes, by the sachems and chiefs of the Long 
Island Indians, on the 3d of October, 1665, there was to be 
no superior sachem on Long Island, but each particular 
sachem was to exercise his former control. Thus passed 
away the authority which had been immediately exercised by 
the ruling family of the Montauketts. 

Gov. Nicolls administration continued three j^ears, when he 
was succeeded by Governor Lovelace, who continued to ad- 
minister the government, until he was ejected by the Dutch 
in 1678. The conduct of this governor was more exception- 
able to the town than that of his predecessor. His eflbrts to 



E AS T II A M F T O N. 69 

raise taxes without the consent of the people, with other 
arbitrary measures which he had introduced or continued, 
were considered dangerous to their liberties and a violation 
of their rights ; they determined not to submit to them. 
They resolved to make an immediate appeal to the king in 
person, and to seek redress in a petition to the throne. On 
the 4th day of May, 1671, therefore, "it was voted by this 
'' towne of Easthampton, that Mr. Thomas James and Mr. 
" Thomas Baker, of this towne, have full power to treate and 
" conclude with the townes of Southampton and Southold, or 
" their agents, concerning i)rocuring a charter, and what ])riv- 
" ilege and liberties can be procured either for tlie three 
" townes in generall or this towne in particular ; or to make 
" agreement with any person or persons now bound for Eng- 
" hind in order thereto ; and what these our agents shall 
" conclude upon, we engage ourselves to the true performance 
" of the same." An order had been received from the gov- 
ernor, calling upon the towns to contribute to the repairing 
the fort at New York, and for this purpose the justices and 
deputies were ordered to assemble at Southold. Upon a re- 
port made of their proceedings, the people in town meeting 
passed the following resolution : 

" June 24:th, 1672. — It is agreed by the vote of the inhab- 
" itants, that the act of the justices and deputies, assembled 
" at Southold, according to order of the governor, to consider 
'* for our safety in this time of danger, and of the letter that 
" was sent by them to the governor, of their determination 
" that they would contribute to the repairing of the fort at 
" York, if they might have the privileges that others of his 
"majesty's subjects in those parts do have and enjoy; it is 
" well approved of by this towne, and they are willing to an- 
" swer their part in the charge, according to their act, if the 
" privileges may be obtained, but not otherwise." By an en- 
try in the records of December, 1683, it seems that to sup- 
ply the wants of the government, a species of tax, by way of 
benevolence, was required : an expedient considered odious 
even in the most absolute government. " Api)raisers were 
" appointed of the houses, lands and chattels for the levy of 
" the ' gift' that is to be given to the governor according to 
" order." 

About the same time, an order was received and obeyed 
that the town should make choice of three men for a grand 
jury, which was done. This was in conformity with the act 
of 1683, and was the first and only appointment made under 
that authority. 

The Montaukett Indians being indebted to Governor Love- 



60 EAST HAMPTON. 

lace for 400 bushels of corn, John Mulford, Thomas James 
and Jeremiah Conklin, became bound for its payment in a 
bond of £100. The Indians having made no provision for 
the discharge of this debt, the bond was forfeited, and pay- 
ment demanded of the sureties. To meet this, the Indian 
Commissioner, Mr. Wells, then also one of the council, ad- 
vised a disposal of a part of their lands. On the first day of 
December, 1670, Poniute, alias Mousup, the then sachem of 
Montaukett, by the advice of his chief counsellor and the 
assent of the other Indians, after consideration and debate, 
granted to Mulford, James and Conklin, the tract of land 
lying between Fort Pond on the south, and Great Pond on 
the north, the ocean on the east, and the sound on the west, 
excepting about two hundred and fifty acres, which had been 
previously disposed of. This grant was soon afterwards trans- 
ferred to the town. 

In furtherance of a more jjermanent support of the ministry 
of the gospel, it was resolved, April 3d, 1673, " that where a 
"professing people are planted and settled together, it is 
" and ought to be their duty, with all care and diligence, to 
" endeavor to the utmost for the maintenance and continu- 
" ance of the Gospel of Jesus Christ amongst them, whereby 
" their souls may be built up and edified in the ways of God. 
"And (having had several considerations and consultations to- 
" gether about it) to which end, therefore, the inhabitants of 
"this town have firmly agreed, and, by a major vote, granted 
" that the house lot of about twelve acres, Avith the addition 
" that had been allotted to John Osborn, should be bought 
"for a parsonage; the town having regard to the cummo- 
" diousness of it, being in the heart of the town." This was 
purchased and retained until 1676, and then sold to Josiah 
Hobart, whom the inhabitants had, after some controversy, 
consented to admit among them. In lieu of this, the Calf 
Pasture was afterwards set apart for the support of the min- 
istry, and still remains a parsonage with the addition of sev- 
eral tracts of woodland. Persons were required to come sea- 
sonably to the town meetings under a penalty, and no one 
was at liberty to absent himself without being subject to a 
fine. 

The Dutch having repossessed themselves of New York, 
appointed Anthony Colve governor of the colony, and began 
the establishment of the government. The governor issued 
his proclamation requiring the submission of the towns on 
Long Island, all of which, excepting the three easternmost, 
complied. These declined to conform, and solicited the gov- 
ernment of Connecticut to receive them under their protec- 
tion and jurisdiction. This was done, and they were erected 
into a county ; a court was constituted and judges appoint- 



E AS T II AM P TO N. 61 

ed, together with such other officers, civil and military, as 
their circuiustances required; besides this, they were fur- 
nished with substantial aid. The Dutch sent an armed Ibrce 
to effect their subjection, but without success. John Multbrd 
was appointed one of the judges, and associated with John 
Howell, of Southampton, and Samuel Wyllis and John Allyn, 
of Hartford, Connecticut, held a court at Easthampton, June 
loth, 1674. Two causes were heard and decided, and Thomas 
Baker was licensed to keep a house of public entertainment. 
News having been received that a peace had been concluded 
in Euro])e between the English and Dutch, and that the treaty 
provided for a restoration of all conquests, the people of 
Easthampton being disinclined to return again under the 
Duke's government, met on the day of holding the Court, 
and agreeing to raise £150 to defray the ex[)enses, ajqioint- 
ed John Mulford, Thomas Baker, Thomas Talmadge, Thomas 
Chatfield, Jeremiah Conklin, and Robert Dayton, a committee 
to join with their neighbors of Southampton and Southold, 
and petition the king to suffer them to remain under the 
government of Connecticut. 

The restoration of the colony by the Dutch to the English, 
being a condition of the treaty of ])eace, Sir Edmund Andross, 
who had been appointed by the Duke governor of his terri- 
tories in America, receivctl the surrender from the Dutch au- 
thorities on the 31st of October, 1(374, and re-established the 
Duke's government. A messenger was sent to Easthampton, 
Southampton and Southold, which towns continued united 
with Connecticut, to require them to return under the gov- 
ernment of the Duke of York. They, through their depu- 
ties, sent a memorial to the governor, in which they stated 
" that by the aid I'urnished them by the kindness of Con- 
*' necticut they had re}ielled the Dutch ; that they had joined 
"and come under that government; that that government 
"had appointed both their civil and military officers; and 
" that they had become by oath bound to that colony, and 
" could not dissolve the connection without their ai)proba- 
" tion." The people of Eastliam})ton instructed their depu- 
ties " to see that all lawful endeavors to be put forth to the 
" utmost for our own continuance under that government." 
The governor and council, on the 18th of November, ordered 
that a messenger be again sent, requiring the towns to restore 
the former overseers and constables to their places, " under 
" the i)enalty of being declared rebels," and ordered John 
Mulford, who had signed the memorial, to appear and answer 
before the council under the like penalty. This op])osition 
by the town to the governor proved ineffectual ; they were 
reluctantly compelled to return to the Duke's government, 
and the court of the constables and overseers again controlled 
their affairs. 



62 EAST HAMPTON. 

About this time, the town agreed with Jonas Ilouldworth, 
to teach the school for one year at a salary of £33, " one-half 
" to be paid in beef or oyle, and the other half in oyle, pork, 
" hides, or tallow, or whale-bone " 

In June, 1675, commenced tlie great Indian war, carried on 
by the renowned chief of the Wampenoag Indians, common- 
ly called King Philip's War. It was the most disastrous of 
any that had preceded it, and realized the predictions of 
Lion Gardiner in 1660. The Montaukett sachem, Poniute, 
was sus})ected of being unfriendly to the English, and he, 
with some of the Montaukett Indians, were cliarged, by in- 
formation from Connecticut, of assisting the Narragansetts 
in their attack upon Plymouth. The Indians on the island 
whose hostility was greatly feared, had, on the first alarm, 
been de})rived of their arms by the governor ; but he subse- 
quently ordered them to be restored, except to the tribes of 
Shelter Island and Muntaukett, having become satisfied from 
the assurance of the Indians of tlieir peaceful disposition, 
that the alarm was in a great degree groundless. The arms 
of the tribes excepted were retained, from doubts of their 
sincerity. There does not, however, appear by the -records 
any order or movement indicating alarm, or any apprehen- 
sion by the inhabitants of the amicable disposition of the 
Montauketts. Poniute, the then sachem, had been approved 
of by the town, and there had been no interruption in their 
business relations. To prevent them from being seduced by 
the Narragansetts to aid in their hostilities against the Eng- 
lish, to which, from their proximity, they were exposed, their 
canoes were seized by order of Governor Andross, and an 
armed vessel was sent by him into Gardiner's Bay, for the pro- 
tection of the island. 

In June, 1676, at a Court of Sessions held at Southold, by 
his majesty's aitthority, it was ordered " that no person not 
" having an allotment, and thereby a right in the commons, 
" shall make use of or cut timber in Easthanipton." The num- 
ber of i)ersons coming into the town in search of a new home 
continued yearly to increase, and the inhabitants seem to 
have been at length little disposed to admit strangers. Upon 
application of several persons who, though refused, had per- 
sisted in a settlement. Governor Dongan ordered lands to be 
surveyed, and thirty acres allowed to each applicant. This 
was resisted by the people, and a protest put forth against 
the proceeding. The governor, irritated at the opposition, on 
the .8th of October issued his warrant to a messenger to 
have Samuel Mulford, Robert Dayton, Samuel Parsons, Ben- 
jamin Conklin, Thomas (Jsborn and John Osborn, who had 
signed the protest, before the council, to answer the premises. 
All remonstrance proved fruitless, and the original order of 



E AS T 11 AMP TON . 63 

the governor was carried into execution. The wolves had 
increased in the previous year, and a further bounty was of- 
fered for their destruction in addition to the amount allowed 
by the sessions. The county rate for 1(176, jiaid by the town, 
was £30. lis. Id. A horse mill was erected in 1677, for flour- 
ing purposes, in the highway opposite the parsonage, at the 
commencement of the South Beach Lane. This lane had 
been previously called the Calf Pasture Lane, and it then as- 
sumed the appellation of the Mill Lane. 

Many difficulties were encountered during this period in 
the management of the town, and in regard to their political 
relations. The intrusion of strangers, without visible means 
of support, or of doubtful or degraded characters, was a mat- 
ter of uneasiness. Orders of a more rigid kind were passed 
by the magistrates, in relation to the entertainment of 
strangers, and their residence in families was prohibited 
without license of the constables and overseers. The Indian 
dogs, which had become so numerous as tp worry and de- 
stroy the sheep, were reduced to the number of one to a 
wigwam. The sheep were let out to be folded. The Indians 
having given a lease to Josiah Hobart, for a part of the lands 
on Montaukett already disposed of, the controversy with the 
town, relative to these Indian titles, was renewed and again 
settled by compromise. 



CHAPTER X. 

In June, 1682, at a training, the soldiers and other in- 
habitants being asscmbletl, an address or petition was read, 
" wherein was declared some aggrievances, that did lie upon 
" the spirits of the people in respect to the i)resent govern- 
"ment." By an unanimous vote, it was agreed that the con- 
stable and overseers, with the clergyman, Mr. James, and 
Thomas Talmadge, should sign the said petition in behalf of 
the town, and transmit it to the governor, '' when he should 
arrive at York." The following is a copy of the petition : 

" To the Hononrahle the Govermmr under his Royall High- 
" ness the Duke of York, The humble address of the 
^' Inhabifanls of the Toivne of Easlhamplon upon Long 
" Island, sheweth : 

" Wlicreas, at the time the government of New York was 
" established under our soveraigne Lord, the King, by CoUonell 



64 EAST HAMPTON. 

" Richard Nicolls, and those gentlemen sent in commission 
'* with hira, " Wee, the Inhabitants of this Towne, see well as 
" the rest of the Island, being required, sent our Messengers 
" to attend their Honours, and then both by word and writ- 
" ing, wee were promised, and engaged the Enjoyments of 
" all privileges and liberties which other of his Majesty's 
" Subjects doe enjoy, which was much to our Content and Satis- 
'* faction. Alsoe afterwards being required by theise, his 
"Majesty's Commissioners, to send upp our Deputies to meet 
" at Hempsteade, and there the whole Island being assembled 
" in our Representatives, wee did then and there, uppon the 
"renewal of those former promises of our freedom and liber- 
" ties, Grant and Compact with the said Collonell Nicolls, Gov- 
" ernor, under his Royall Highness, That wee would allow 
"so much out of the Estates yearly, as might defray the 
" charge of Publicke Justice amongst us, and for killing 
" wolves, &c. But may it please your honor to understand, 
" that since that time we are deprived and prohibited of our 
" Birthright Freedomes and Privileges to which both we 
" and our ancestors were borne ; although we have neither 
" forfeited them by any misdemeanour of ours, nor have at any 
" time beene forbidden the due use and exercise of them by 
" Command of our Gratious King, that we know of. And as 
" yet neither wee, nor the rest of his Majesty's Subjects upon 
" this Island, have been at any time admitted since then to 
"enjoy a general and free Assembly of our Representatives, 
"as other of his Majesty's Subjects have had the privilege 
" of. But Laws and Orders have been Imposed uppon us 
" from time to time without our consent, (and therein we are 
" totally deprived of a fundamentall Privilege of our Eng- 
" lish Nation,) together with the obstruction of Trafificke and 
" Negotiation with others of his Majesty's Subjects, so that 
"we are become very unlike other of the Kings Subjects 
" in all other Colonyes and jurisdictions here in America, and 
" cannot but much resent our grievances in this respect, 
" and remaine discouraged with respect to the settlement of 
" ourselves and Posteritie after us. Yet all this time, pay- 
" monts and performance of what hath beene Imposed 
" upjjon us hath not beene omitted on our i)arts, although 
" performance of our Promised Privileges aforesaid have been 
''wholly unperformed and what payments from yeare to yeare, 
"this many yeares hath beene made by us, Ilath beene 
" made use of to other purposes than at first they were 
" granted for and intended by us. Soe that wee cannot but 
" feare if the Publicke Affairs of government shall continue 
" in this manner as they have beene ; but h()])e better lest 
" our Freedomes should be turned into Bontlage, and our 
" Ancients Privileges so infringed, that they will never ar- 



EASTHAMPTON. 65 

"rive to our Posteritie. And we ourselves may be justlie 
"and highly culi)able before his Majestie to our Subjection 
"to and supporting of such a Government, constituted soe 
" contrarie to the fundamentall Lawes of England, it being 
" a principall part of his Majestie's Anciente and Just Gov- 
" ernment to rule over a free people endowed with many 
" privileges above others and not over Bondsmen, oppressed 
" by Arbitrary Impositions and Exactions. These things con- 
*'sidered, we cannot but humbly request your Honour to 
"weigh our Condition in«the Balance of Equity with Sery- 
" ousness before you proceed to any Action of your owne, 
" whereby to assert the proceedings of your Predecessors in 
"Government which wee now with all Christian moderation 
"dos complaine of. And for the redress here of an ad- 
" dress, as we understand hath beene made to his Royall 
" Highness by a late Court of Assize in behalfe of us, and 
" our Neighbours in this Colloney. Soe that we are not without 
" hope, your Honour hath received Directions to ease us 
" in these our grievances, by the Remedies humbly repre- 
"sented by us and Petitioned for by the Inhabitants of this 
"Island to the last Court of Assize that did sitt att New 
" Yorke, to which as yet no Satisfactorie Answer hath been 
" made. If, therefore, your Honour may be an Instrument 
"under God, and his Majestie, our Soveraigne Lord the King 
"to relieve us, and the rest of his Majestie's good Subjects 
"upon this Island in our grievances, and bee a meanes to 
" helpe us to the free Enjoyment of our Birthright Privi- 
" leges, which the fundamentall Constitution of our English 
" Nation's Government doth invest us with, (which, as we 
"doubt not, will bee very pleasing to his Majestie and all 
" your Loyall Superiors.) So your Honour may bee assured 
" it will firmly Engage and oblige us your humble Petition- 
"ers, and our Posteritie after us to have your Prudence and 
" Justice in Honorable Remembrance, as the tirst Restorer of 
" our freedome and privileges to our great Contentment. 
"But, Sir, if it shall fall out otherwise, which God lorbid, and 
" wee are very unwilling to suppose, and that your Honour 
" should by reason of Counsells and Suggestions pursue a 
" Contrary Course to our humble Desires, soe as to continue 
"or augment our grievances, then wee request your Honours 
" Pardon and Excuse if in our conscience to God and in 
" honour and submission to his Majestie, our most Gratious 
" Soveraigne, we prostrate our Selves and our State and 
" Condition before the Throne of his uumatchable Justice 
"and Clemencies, where we doubt not to find Reliefe and 
"Restoration, and can doe no less in the meane time, but Re- 
" sent our folorne and and bereaved Condition. So, Sir, as 
" our prayers are Continued for a happy and glorious Reigne 
9 



66 EASTHAMPTON. 

"to his Sacred Majestie, the King, and alsoe our prayers 
" shall be for your Honour, that you may be a blessed Instru- 
" ment under God, in your Wisdome, Justice and Equity over 
" us. And humblie make bold to subscribe our Selves his 
" Majestie's poore, depressed though Loyall Subjects, and 
" your most Humble Servants." 

The preceding address, coi^ied with the literal orthography 
of the day, was doubtless written by Mr. James, who seems 
at this period, notwithstanding his advanced age, to have 
been active in the cause of the people against the arbitrary 
measures of the governor. It evinces much of the spirit and 
ardor in relation to popular rights, which subsequently in 
'76 produced the Declaration of Independence. The princi- 
ples asserted by the revolution in England, which terminated 
the dynasty of the Stuarts, are put forth, as they were then 
maintained, to be the ^birthright of Englishmen, and the me- 
morial shows that this people at that early day, though 
secluded from the busy parts of the world, were awake 
to the encroachment of prerogative, and vigilant in guard- 
ing their privileges. It breathes the spirit of free men, and 
is rife in those principles of civil right which were afterward 
proclaimed through the land as inherent and indispensa- 
ble. 

It was not until August, 1683, that the new governor. Col- 
onel Thomas Dongan, who succeed Anthony Brockholst in 
the administration of the government, arrived in the prov- 
ince. He landed at the east end of Long Island, and heard 
there, as the historian of the colony says, the voice of discon- 
tent and dissatisfaction. It might have reached his ears 
through the address already recited. To quiet the excite- 
ment, he issued an order to Cai)tain Youngs, the high sheriff 
of Yorkshire, to summon the freeholders of the several towns 
to meet and choose representatives for a General Assembly, to 
be convened on the ensuing seventeenth of October. The town 
of Easthampton chose a committee of three persons to re- 
present them at Southold, wliere were to be convened com- 
mittees from the towns in the Riding to elect two representa- 
tives to meet at New Yoik in pursuance of the order. They 
also appointed Mr. James to accompany the committee, and 
advise with them in regard to instructions for the mainte- 
nance "of their privileges and English liberties." The 
committee was ordered to object against any writ issuing 
otherwise than in his Majesty's name, " whom only we own 
as our sovereign," and in the name of the town to certify 
to the sheriff " that we do not send these persons in obe- 
" dience to his warrant, but only because we would neglect 
" no opportunity to assert our liberties." Like instructions 



EAST HAMPTON. 67 

were given by each town to its committee. The assembly 
of representatives met for three successive years, established 
courts of law, and passed such laws for the regulation of 
the affairs of the colony as their situation required. One 
of the deputies from the East Riding was John Stratton, of 
Easthampton, a son-in-law of Mr. James. After the disso- 
lution of the assembly of 1685, Governor Dongan arbitrarily 
determined to dispense for the future with the services of 
that body, and undertook with his council to administer the 
government. 

In 1686, Josiah Hobart, an active, enterprising and influen- 
tial man^ who was admitted an inhabitant of the town in 
1676, was appointed high sheriff of Yorkshire. In the same 
year, 1686, in addition to the patent from Nicolls, another 
was obtained from Governor Dongan by the proprietors of 
Easthampton. The governor and his council had the dis- 
posal of the public lands ; no purchase was valid without 
their concurrence ; and wishing to complete the purchase of 
Montaukett, it became necessary that the inhabitants should 
avail themselves of their permission. Besides this, other 
privileges of a town beyond those conferred by Governor 
Nicolls were desirable, and measures were therefore taken to 
procure a new and confirmatory patent. A rate was levied 
on the proportion to their aUotments, but on none other of 
the inhabitants, to defray the expenses attending the step, 
and a committee was appointed to proceed to New York 
with special instructions. It was not without much negotia- 
tions and expense that the cupidity of the governor and his 
council was satislied, and a patent finally obtained. It con- 
firmed the patent given by Nicolls, and granted the lands, 
within the former boundaries of the town, to Thomas 
James, Captain Josiah Hobart, Captain Thomas Talmadge, 
Lieutenant John Wheeler, Ensign Samuel Mulford, John 
Mulford, Thomas Chatfield, Sen., Jeremiah Conklin, Stephen 
Hand, Robert Dayton, Thomas Baker, and Thomas Osborn, 
freeholders and inhabitants of the town, and erected them 
into a body corporate and politic, by the name of the 
" Trustees of the Freeholders and Commonalty of the Town 
of Easthampton." The grant reserved a quit-rent to his 
majesty of one lamb annually, and was made to the fol- 
lowing uses and purposes and no other; the lands already 
taken up and api)ropriated by virtue of the former 2)atent, 
were to be vested in their then owners ; the lands not taken 
up and appropriated, in the original purchasers as tenants in 
common, in the proportion of their respective payments ; and 
the lands at Montaukett not purchased of the natives, in the 
trustees and their successors, with the sole and exclusive 
right of purchase. This patent also erected the town into a 



68 EASTHAMPTON. 

corporation, with power to sue and be sued in their corporate 
name ; to buy and sell real estate within the county ; to 
pass by-laws, and to elect annually twelve trustees, two con- 
stables, and two assessors, for which privileges the annual 
sum of forty shillings quit-rent was reserved. The expenses 
attending the procurement of this patent amounted to more 
than one thousand dollars. 

The expectations of a better administration of the govern- 
ment, which had been raised in the people by the promises 
of Dongan, when he landed among them, had been sadly dis- 
appointed, and they regarded him now with even personal 
abhorrence. Their dislike was not a little augmented by the 
fact that the governor was a papist, and, in his appoint- 
ments to office, gave preference to those of his own religious 
faith. In 1688, Sir Edmund Andross succeeded Dongan, and 
again assumed the administration of affairs. On the 30th 
of July, the people being gratified at his recall from a belief 
that matters could not be worse, sent a committee to Gov- 
ernor Andross to present an address to him. John Wheeler 
and Samuel Mulford composed the committee. Andross soon 
retired to New England, and if the inhabitants obtained 
any relief, it must have been under the administration of 
the Lieut.-Governor, Francis Nicholson. In the same year, 
the trustees, by one of their first acts after their incorpora- 
tion, ordered that Montauk, from Neapeag to Fort Pond, 
should be allotted to the proprietors as soon as might be 
convenient. They also resolved that the town commons 
should be speedily divided among the proprietors, and direct- 
ed that until this could be done, the commons should be 
hired out and the proceeds divided among them by a rate. 
One Jacob Leisler having, in the absence of the executive, 
seized upon the government of the colony, the people of 
Easthampton, on the third of May, 1690, resolved that they 
would not submit to his authority, but would continue as 
they were. They, however, agreed that the moneys then 
in hand, which had been raised for the public use, should be 
paid to him or his order. The usurpation of Leisler having 
been put down by Governor Sloughter in 1691, the j)eople 
of Easthampton sent a deputation to congratulate him on his 
safe arrival, and to make known to him their grievances and 
solicit relief. So rapid, however, Avas the transition of power, 
that scarcely had they time to welcome the return and re- 
ceive the report of the deputation, from a journey made at 
that period at no small peril and loss of time, before they 
were called upon to acknowledge a new governor in the per- 
son of Colonel Fletcher. A House of Assembly, composed of 
representatives chosen by the citizens of the colony, ajjpear- 
ing now to be finally settled as a constituent part of the 



EAST HAMPTON. 69 

government, the people seem to have committed the protec- 
tion of their rights to the care of their representatives. We 
no longer find them active in their primary meetings, and 
the records are comparatively silent in regard to political 
affairs. In 1699, William Kidd, a pirate of great notoriety, 
and a man of desperate and formidable character, cast anchor 
in Gardiner's Bay. Of all the numerous buccaneers who 
infested the ocean at that period, none is so universally 
known at the present day. What in connection with his pre- 
vious standing, hag probably given more acquaintance with 
the depredations and brutal acts of this individual, is the 
popular ballad, commencing 

" My name is Robert Kidd, as I sailed," 

in which his deeds are sung. In 1701, the proprietors ef- 
fected a purchase from the natives of Montaukett of the land 
lying between Fort Pond and Womponomon for the sum of 
£100, to be paid in installments upon demand. This pur- 
chase completed their title to all the lands within the boun- 
daries of the town, and divested the Indians of their last re- 
maining ownership on Montaukett. The boundary of the 
lands on that peninsula, which thus came wholly into the 
possession of the proprietors of the town, commences on the 
west, according to the deeds, at the old Indian fort at the 
foot of Nominick Hill on the south side, and Fresh Ponds on 
the north side, (being the easterly extremity of Neapeag,) 
and embraces the whole extent of the country easterly be- 
tween the sound and the ocean. The Indians retained, by 
a lease or contract from the purchasers, an interest in the In- 
dian Field and North Neck, a mere usufruct which they still 
enjoy. A personal right, not transferable, to plough and 
plant annually thirty acres of land, to keep fifty head of cat- 
tle, and to take a sufficiency of wood for fuel and fencing, 
comi)rises now the whole extent of their tenure. This in- 
terest, by an expressed restriction in the i)atent of the town, 
they can only dispose of to the proportions of the land. 
Montauk, which was then in some degree populous, had pre- 
viously to the coming of the white man, swarmed witli a 
large population. An ancient Indian, more than a hundred 
years ago, declared to one of the oldest inhabitants of the 
town, that within his recollection, the natives " were as many 
" as the spires of the grass ; and if," said he, stretching his 
hands on the ground, " you can count these, then when I 
" was a boy, you could have reckoned their number." The 
Indians are now reduced to three families of some six or 
eight individuals in the wliole. Four white families reside 
there, three of which act as herdsmen and shepherds to the 



70 EASTHAMPTON. 

large number of cattle, sheep and horses, belonging to this 
and the neighboring towns, which pasture over the lands. 
The place is almost one wide and extended region of solitude 
where man feels himself ah)ne. Over its elevated hilly sur- 
face, the eye seklom rests upon other than natural objects. 
The large forest which once covered its face, has fallen be- 
fore the axe of the husbandman and the winds of heaven; 
and the vision has no interruption from over the greater 
part of the land to an illimitable expanse of ocean. The ex- 
tensive swamps, where the warrior waited in ambush the 
passing of his foe, have most of them become dry and free 
of wood. The grounds, where often the battle raged in the 
strife for life and victory, are noted only by the many arrow 
heads which the tread of animals and the crumbling of the soil 
expose to view. The lofty and symmetrical stature of the red 
man no longer crowns the cliffs and headlands of the shores, 
but over their summits the sea bird and the eagle ma}' still be 
seen hovering in the air, or soaring aloft in beautiful gyra- 
tions. All the magnificent features of nature, as they were 
seen by former successive generations, still present to the 
visitor the same sublime and majestic appearance ; but the red 
man sleeps in his grave. The Ijand of sparkling foam, pro- 
duced by the waves of the ocean rolling and dashing upon 
the shore in endless succession, still embraces the land; but 
the red man, with an admiration never satiated, watching the 
pulsations of the mighty deep, is no longer there. On the 
bold headland of Wom2)onomon, where, in the clear dark 
night, the signal fire was kindled to give notice to the 
friendly tribes of the opposite shore of the approach of some 
mutual foe, or of readiness to proceed at the next moon upon 
some enterprise of danger or revenge, the sentinel of the red 
man no longer holds his midnight vigil. The calm moon, 
whose bright and soft light was reflected from the undulating 
surface of the gently rising wave, when the canoe was launched 
upon its bosom for distant adventure, still sheds its monthly 
brightness upon the troubled sea; but it no longer guides 
the bark of the red man. The agitations and tumults that 
gave activity and excitement to savage life, and filled the forest 
with the echoes of the war whoop, are buried in the grave of 
the red man ; but the almost painful stillness of the land is 
disturbed by the everlasting murmur of the ocean. 

In 1741, the Society for Proi)agating the Christian Religion 
among the Indians of New England, which had formerly em- 
ployed Mr. James, appointed the Rev'd Azariah llorton a 
missionary among the Montauketts. This society had been 
formed in London at the instigation of Edward Winslow, a 
magistrate of Plymouth, Massachusetts, and embraced in the 
number of its members many eminent men. It was incor- 



E AS T H AM P TO N. 71 

porated by act of Parliament, and James Boyle, brother of 
the Earl of Corke, was appointed first governor over it by 
Charles II. Mr. Horton was successful in his labors, and it 
was under his instruction that the Montauketts renounced 
their idolatry, and ceased to worship after the manner of 
their fathers. Subsequently, there were a number of Indian 
preachers and teachers among them ; but the most distin- 
guished was Sampson Ocum, a Mohegan, who was born in 
1723, and educated in Connecticut by Mr. Wheelock and Mr. 
Pomeroy. He opened a school on Montauk in 1755, and also 
preached there from that date until 1761. At the latter 
period, the Indians numbered but one hundred and eighty-two 
individuals. Colonel Gardiner, of Easthampton, in a letter to 
the Rev'd John Devotion, dated 1761, states that the Indians, 
after the death of Wyandanch, had no sachem whom they 
much regarded, or who was able to govern them. In 1765, 
they became dissatisfied with the whites in relation to their 
occupancy of Montauk, and applied to Sir William Johnson, 
the agent for Indian aifairs, for redress against what they 
deemed the illegal exactions of the proprietors of Montauk. 
In a letter from him to Colonel Gardiner, then one of the 
largest proprietors, he states the dissatisfaction of the In- 
dians, and required that justice be done them. Colonel Gar- 
diner replied, denying their pretended grievances, and alleg- 
ing that their claims were not founded on any right. The 
Indians persisting in their claims, Sir AVilliam came and re- 
mained among them several weeks. After the revolution, 
they made comjjlaints from time to time to the state govern- 
ment of the encroachments of the whites, and at last ob- 
tained from the executive the ai)pointment of a commission 
to examine into tlieir charge ; but they were found and re- 
l)orted to be without foundation, and to arise from a misap- 
prehension of their actual interest in Montauk. Schools 
continued to be oi)ened from time to time among tliem, and 
Paul Cuffee, a Shinecock half blood, was employed as their 
occasional religious instructor, until a very late day. From 
their teachers, some of them learned to read and write, but 
their progress in knowledge neither ameliorated their con- 
dition nor divested them of their natural improvidence. 
Their thirst for the liquid fire of the white man, continued 
with scarcely an exception, as ardent, if not more so, as when 
they first became acquainted with civilized life, and the do- 
mestic comforts of the hearth were but little enhanced be- 
yond the savage state, notwitstanding all the advantage of 
intercourse with a moral and religious people, dis])Osed to 
treat them with sobriety and friendsliip. The efibrts in this 
case for regenerating the Indian character, were certainly a 
decided failure, and may be added to the thousand others in 



\ 



72 EASTHAMPTON. 

this western world, which have disappointed the general 
hopes of tlie philanthropist. To be never weary in well do- 
ing, is the divine injunction, but the expectation of ever re- 
deeming the red man from his state of nature, would seem, 
from what has been the result of all previoiis experiments 
on this continent, a labor at least unaccompanied with any 
reasonable hope. From the progress of civilized life, they 
have either retreated or remained but to perish ; and so rap- 
idly have they disappeared, that no trace of them has been 
left, where but a few years since they were sole lords of the 
soil. 

The fort called by the Indians the New Fort, to which 
they removed from one at the foot of Nominick, is about one 
hundred feet square, and is still to be seen on Fort Hill, on 
the northeast side of Fort Pond. The rampart and para- 
pet was of earth, with a ditch at the foot of the glacis, and 
was probably palisaded with trunks 'of fallen trees. At 
each angle there was apparently a round tower of earth and 
stone, and the whole could probably have held from three 
to five hundred men. The pond on the south afforded a 
safe and convenient harbor for their canoes, under the im- 
mediate protection of the fort. Its contiguity to the pond 
yielding them also an abundant supply of fresh water, on the 
side where a communication was easily kept up by the fa- 
cility of protection. The location was one of decided ad- 
vantage for protection and defense, and must have been suffi- 
cient against attacks, which Indian tactics could have brought 
to bear upon it. On the west side, the ground descends al- 
most perpendicularly to Fort Pond, and, on the east, it is 
level for some distance. On the south and adjoining the 
south angle, is an Indian burial ground. From the fort can 
be seen the headland of Womponomon, and it overlooks the 
pond and the bay on the north. Near a burial ground, about a 
half mile from the fort, in a southeasterly direction, upon the 
upper surface of a small granite rock, nearly bedded in the 
ground, is the impress of a human foot. The figure is as per- 
fect and distinct as would follow from the pressure of the 
left foot upon some soft adhesive substance, except being de- 
ficient in a toe, a deficiency not at first sight apparent, and 
discernible only by inspection. No artist could have chiseled 
a more perfect resemblance. The ini})ression is still fresh, 
and without the least appearance of injury from time. There 
are two others less perfect and distinct — the one in the In- 
dian Field, and the other to the west of Fort Pond. The heel 
of the foot is toward the east of all of them, as though 
formed in passing to the west. Excepting that they are the 
footsteps of the evil spirit, no record or tradition pretends to 
give their story. They were there at the first settlement by 



E AS THAMP TON. 73 

the white people, and were a subject of powwow to the 
Indians. 

In the first woods as you enter upon Montauk from the 
the west, called Hither Wood, is a granite rock, flat and 
smooth, upon the surface of which are several s})ots of the 
color of blood. The tradition of the Indians holds them to 
have been caused by the flow of blood from the wound of a 
chief, who was there killed by the arrow of an enemy. It is 
called " the jumping place," and near the rock is a small 
cavity in the ground, said to have been made by the expiring 
leap of the chief Near the place of their former residence 
are still to be seen the excavations in the ground, where, in 
deep pits, was secured the Indian corn when gathered and 
husked for their winter store. They are called, in ancient 
writings, Indian barns. On a small eminence on the north 
shore, and at other places where excessive winds have kept 
the soil from forming, are found tlie chippings from the 
white flint stone ; it was here that the arrow heads were 
manufactured. One would hardly suppose that so dull a 
weapon could be sent with suflicient force to destroy life, 
and such a doubt seems to have been early entertained by the 
Commissioners of the Massachusetts Bay. To satisfy them 
of the contrary, Mr. Gardiner, wliile commander of the Say- 
brook Fort, sent to them a rib of one of his soldiers that 
had been i)ierced through by an arrow driven by the bow in 
a conflict with the Indians. To protect his person, and as a 
better defense against the arrows than ordinary clothing, he 
wore a buff" coat. In Great Pond and Oyster Pond are found 
oysters of fine flavor and in great abundance, and in these, as 
well as in most of the other ponds, are also the white and 
yellow perch. In the months of May and September, plover 
in great number frequent the hills and plains, and during the 
autumn and spring months, the brant, the goose, and many 
varieties of the duck, yield to the vigilance and industry of 
the sportsman abundant amusement. On Womponomon, the 
federal government in 1795 erected a lighthouse with octan- 
gular sides, built of cut free stone, the lantern being about 
one hundred feet above the ground, and nearly two hundred 
above the surface of the ocean. From the gallery on the 
top of the tower and outside of the lantern, the prospect 
is grand and majestic. In the west, the islands, the main and 
the sound are seen, and in the east and south is presented to 
the eye the illimitable ocean without a mark, without a 
bound. By the action of tlie waves during the violent storm 
of September, 1812, and that of a subsequent period, very 
considerable inroad was made upon the clifi", and by the or- 
dinary eflects of the tides and rain, it is gradually wearing 
away. The air around differs but little from that felt at sea 
10 



74 EASTHAMPTON. 

upon the deck of a vessel, and the valetudinarian may derive 
from a salt and^invigorating atmosphere, a renewal of health 
and an increased appetite, which the well supplied table of 
the keeper of the light will pleasurahly satisfy. The excel- 
lence of the fisli is nowhere surpassed, and during the sum- 
mer months may always be had in great perfection — the 
striped and the sea bass, the black and the blue fish, the 
porgy, etc. The invalid, the epicure, the gourmand, and 
the sportsman, may here find for a few weeks what each of 
them may class among the greatest enjoyments of life. 

The geology of this region has not received much scien- 
tific investigation. The land, on the south and north side, is 
gradually wearing away by the action of the water. The road 
which was originally some distance from the edge of the cliffs, 
has already disappeared in many places from the inroads of 
the sea, and stumps of trees are found on the north side be- 
low low water mark. Indications of iron are occasionally 
seen along the banks and guUeys, and an ochery brown oxyde 
of iron occurs in a considerable bed, one mile and a half 
from Neapeag. A small but lively spring, slightly chalybeate, 
on tlie north shore near Oyster Pond, discharges into the 
bay, and boils through the sand a little above ordinary 
high water mark. It has never undergone a chemical analy- 
sis by which to determine its medical qualities. It was free- 
ly used by the Indians, as a remedy for cold and consumptive 
affections. The water is very cold, and painful to the hand 
if long immersed. Its temperature apparently never varies. 
Single rocks of granite are scattered over the surface of the 
ground in some parts in considerable numbers, but not of 
great size. From the appearance of the sides of the cliffs, 
the substratum is formed of similar rocks, and of pebbles, 
gravel and loam. The soil on the north side is a vegetable 
loam, rich and productive, while that on the south is more 
light and less fertile, but yielding a sweet nutritious grass. 

The Rev'd Nathaniel Hiintting, who succeeded Mr. James, 
and was the officiating clergyman in 1696, was ordained on 
the thirteenth of Sei)tember, 1699. He received a salary of 
£60 a year, and had given him in addition a house and 
ground, together with the use of the parsonage. In 1696, 
Mr. Huntting commenced a record, the earliest preserved or 
known to have been kept, of deaths, marriages, bai)tisms and 
church admissions. This task, which he seems voluntarily to 
have assumed, he discharged throughout his life with com- 
mendable care and fidelity. Mr. Buel, who succeeded Hunt- 
ting, partially continued this record, and it was subsequently 
neglected, and resumed at intervals, by his family and suc- 
cessors. In 1700, a town rate of £215. 8^. 4:d. was levied. 



EAST HAMPTON. 75 



CHAPTER XI. 



Lord Cornbury, who had taken an active part in promoting 
the restoration at home, had received his commission as gov- 
ernor in gratitude for these services. From his opposition to 
the preceding government and his hostility to papacy, the 
people expected, notwithstanding former disap[)oiutnients, at 
least a liberal administration. But in this they were soon 
undeceived. His bigotry and intolerance was not exceeded 
by any of his predecessors, either of the Romish or of the 
English church. His zeal for the Episcopal worship was so 
exclusive, that they soon discovered that they had gained 
but a change of evils in their freedom from pa})al domina- 
tion. With a vulgar hatred of Presbyterianism, Cornbury 
delighted to exhibit towards its professors a savage bigotry, 
and as he was possessed of a weak mind and a low and vin- 
dictive disposition, his conduct was mean and degrading. 
Destitute of refined feelings, he pursued, in his private and 
public relations, a course ungrateful and perfidious. The 
people were aroused, and became alive to the hazard to 
which their liberties were exposed. A bill for the establish- 
ment of the Christian ministry, which had passed the legisla- 
ture and become a law, aroused the jealousy of the Presbyteri- 
ans in this county, where they constituted almost the whole pop- 
ulation. It was intended, they believed, for the advancement 
of Episcopacy and the sole benefit of the clergy of that sect. 
That such was the i)urpose of the governor, under the con- 
struction given to its provisions, was manifest, and though 
they were without the immediate infiuence of the act, they 
looked upou it as a dangerous encroachment U})on their re- 
ligious privileges. The right of representation in assembly, 
which had been declared by an act of the legislature, was 
refused by the king, and this further admonished them of 
the insecurities of their liberties and the fallacy of their 
hopes. It was during the excitement caused by the disgrace- 
ful and tyrannical conduct of Lord Cornbury, that a canvass 
held for members of assembly, at which Samuel Mulford was 
elected as representative from the county of Suffolk. He 
was born in 16-15, was captain in the militia, had been a long 
time recorder, and had occupied other stations in the civil 
government of the town. He was self-educated, somewhat 
eccentric, but of great probity and unquestioned talents. 
His father was one of the first settlers of the town, had held 
the office of justice of the peace for many years, and had 
been a deputy in the assembly at Hartford, and a member of 



76 E AST H AMP TON . 

the first house of deputies of this province. Samuel Mulford 
was in his s})eech rapid, and possessed of a temper at times 
rather hasty; he expressed himself occasionally with more in- 
stability and less guardedness than a due respect to })rudence 
would seem to ^lemand. But such was the structure of his 
mind, that he could hold no toleration with what he was con- 
vinced was wrong, and he could yield nothing in combating 
for principle. In his feelings, his habits, his associations, his 
religion, and his great simplicity of manner, he was essen- 
tially a republican. His first political efibrts had been direct- 
ed against the severance of his town from the jurisdiction of 
Connecticut. Its annexation to the colony of New York, 
never changed his political preference. Animated by the 
sjiirit and inheriting the feelings which j^ervaded the puri- 
tans, the aristocratic principles, civil and religious, that pre- 
dominated in the councils of the colony, were at variance with 
his indejjendent views. Upon the Episcopalians of the Eng- 
lish high church was bestowed all the patronage of the gov- 
ernment, and upon them only were conferred the offices of 
trust and honor. It was not surprising, therefore, that in the 
contrast between the situation of his puritan friends in his 
beloved New England and those here, he should feel some 
jealousy and disaj^pointment. As there was no gratitude due 
the government for any favor bestowed upon his town or 
county, he was not disposed to yield to its ministers more 
than a watchful confidence. So far as they diverged in prin- 
ci2)le in their views of the government from the original 
organization of the colonies of New England, he condemned 
and opposed them. Her institutions were his beau-ideal of 
a republican government. Her prudence in council, her 
economy in administration, her prosperous industry, her at- 
tention to morals and education, were ever the subjects of his 
eulogy and admiration. He was pleased to contrast the 
organization of his own colony with that of the New England 
colonies, and show their great superiority in the enjoyment 
and estimation of their civil and religious rights. With such 
impressions, Captain Mulford took his seat in the General 
Assembly, convened on the fourth of June, 1705, in the city 
of New York. From this time until the termination of Corn- 
bury's government, he was active in op2)osing his efforts of 
misrule, and finally at his departure in promoting the pas- 
sage of resolutions censuring his administration. A contro- 
versy between the General Assembly and the various gover- 
nors, relative to the finances and the mode of keeping and 
disbursing the revenue, was continuctl almost without inter- 
mission until 1716, when the influence exercised by Gov. 
Hunter over the elections, an assembly was obtained, a major- 
ity of which was disposed to advance his views. It seems that 



EAST HAMPTON. 77 

he at once determined to punish those of his opponents who 
were returned, and who in the previous house had heen most 
offensive to him. The liouse met on the 9th of June, and on 
the 21st a motion was made thatCapt. Mulford put the speech 
he made on that day into the liands of tlie clerk of the house, 
which was adoiited and ordered accordingly. On the 22cl, 
the clerk informed the house that Capt. Mulford had deliv- 
ered to him his speech accordinp; to order, and the house fur- 
ther ordered that the same he taken into consideration. Not 
having said anything in the house which he was not willing 
publicly to avow, and desirous that his own constituents might 
he possessed of the sentiments which had been considered 
exce})tionable, he caused the speech to be printed and pub- 
lished. It was most probably from the dictation of the gov- 
ernor that a subservient house had made the call, and doubt- 
less it was also his intention to have required of it a further 
act of servility to j)unish the freedom of remark. The print- 
ing of the speech, however, put in his own individual power 
the means of proceeding against the author under the color 
of law, and he might have preferred this more immediate 
punishment of one so odious both as to politics and religion. 
He instituted a suit against him in the Supreme Court, a tri- 
bunal constituted by his own ajjpointment, to harass him by 
the expenses and delays of law. Capt. Mulford was not rich, 
his estate was the accumulation of his own industry. From 
the labors of his hands in tiie field, for he was a i)ractical far- 
mer, his family derived their princij^al sui)i)ort. His age 
already exceeded sixty years ; but his life had been so uni- 
formly temperate that, except a whitened head, time had made 
but little inroad upon a naturally powerful muscular frame. 
As long as the prosecution was suspended, and it was in the 
power of the governor to prolong it at pleasure, it prevented 
his return to his famil}', and his personal attention to his 
domestic affairs. 

Nothing further was done by the General Assembly in rela- 
tion to any decision upon the subject of the speech of Mr. 
Mulford. But on the 16th of August ensuing they resolved 
to address his excellency in behalf of Capt. Mulford, and on 
the 21st the house, with the speaker, attended his excellency 
with the following address : • 

" To his ExceUencij the Governor, the humble address of the 
General Assemblij of New York: 

"May it please your Excellency : The Assembly being deeply 
'' sensible of the great damage and inconveniency Mr. Sam'l 
" Mulford, a member of this house, suffers and undergoes, by 
"reason of a prosecution against him in the Supreme Court, 
" for printing and publishing a speech formerly made by him 



78 E AST H AMP TON. 

" in Assembly, are humble suitors to his Excellency to give 
" orders that Mr. Mulford, in regard of his great age and dis- 
" tance of habitation from the city, and other considerations, 
" may be freed and discharged from the said prosecution in 
" the Supreme Court." 

Upon the adjournment of the house, Capt. Mulford 
returned to his constituents, and with that indomitable 
perseverance which ever marked his character, deter- 
mined, notwithstanding his age, to proceed to London 
and solicit in person from the ministry that reform in the 
government of the colony which all his attempts had hereto- 
fore failed in producing. Among the grievances of which he 
had occasion to complain, was one which greatly atfected the 
interests of his own constituents. The business of whaling 
had been followed by the inhabitants of his town and those 
of Southampton with such success as to be greatly profitable. 
He had obtained the passage of an act for its encouragement 
by provisions protecting from arrest the jjersons employed. 
The cupidity of the governor, ever seeking the means of its 
gratification, had exacted without law a duty of a tenth of all 
the oil obtained, as a droit of royalty. To conceal his depar- 
ture, he embarked from Boston, whither, after landing at 
Newport, he had proceeded on foot through the wilderness. 
We may imagine the appearance of Capt. Mulford at the 
Court of St. James, and its effect upon the royal household. 
Dressed in the homely garb of domestic manufacture, the 
handiwork of his wife and daughters, and probably of the 
fashion of an anterior age, having manners rather rustic and 
stifi^, and the formal bearing that marked at that day the 
Presbyterian character ; his address respectful, but divested 
of sycophancy ; his person such as has been previously de- 
scribed; his countenance sober, and strongly marked with in- 
telligence, firmness and decision. The novelty of his appear- 
ance and of his errand attracted notice, and his interesting 
and well digested information gained him attention. The 
tax upon oil was directed to be discontinued. " A memorial 
" of several aggrievances and oppressions of his majesty's 
" subjects in the colony of New York, in America," prepared 
by him, and delivered to the members at the door of the 
House of Commons, was read and elicited inquiry. It was 
calcuhited to make a deep impression. It contained a free 
and bold denunciation of the usurpations of the governor and 
the maladministration of the government; a charge of bur- 
densome taxes, of a prodigal it not fraudulent expenditure of 
moneys in the Indian department, and of an unnecessary and 
injurious restriction ujjon trade with the Indians and with 
Canada, together with a proposition of relieving the people 



EASTHAMPTON. 79 

from the onerous supplies required for quieting the Indians, 
by at once and with a sufficient force putting them down and 
compelling a quiet and peaceable conduct, treating them as 
friends while disposed to friendship, but as enemies when act- 
ing hostilely. 

Col. Schuyler had preceded Capt. Mulford to England, with 
some of the chiefs of the Five Nations, whom he exhibited 
in the saloons of the palace, an<l in the hall of the Parliament 
House. He was of the cavalier high church party, and a 
gentleman of courteous manners, large property, and influ- 
ential friends. He had charge of the Indian department, and 
was the advocate of presents, amnesties and treaties, in the 
management of difhciilties witli the natives. The Indian 
question had been a subject on which they had taken opjjosite 
grounds in the arena of the house. In the warmth of debate 
the irritable feelings of Capt. Mulford had driven him to say 
that the house was governed by the devil. Called upon 
to explain and apologize, he declared that he meant that 
Col. Schuyler ruled the house ; that he was controlled by 
the Indians, and the Indians by tlie devil. Such was his 
deduction ; whether the logical conclusion was satisfactory to 
the house, there is neither record or tradition. It was said by 
the friends of Col. Schuyler that he, by his personal influ- 
ence, held the Indians in subjection. It seems Capt. Mulford 
thought the reverse. Tlie conmiissioners received no salary. 
Capt. Mulford was incredulous of political partisan disinter- 
estedness and generosity. He was therefore the more watch- 
ful. He saw that large sums were deposited in their hands 
for occasional presents. They were traders themselves. He 
had studied mankind, and he knew how deep an influence in- 
terest exercises upon the present judgment. His views rela- 
tive to the Indian trade were the more decidedly unalterable. 
He called at the counting houses of the merchants, and opened 
to them the commercial riches of the country. He requested 
them to give a leisure moment to the consideration of his 
memorial, etc. It was read and understood by a class who 
are sharj) sighted in all the relations of their business, and 
its eftect and the movement consequent will be seen in the 
sequel. 

Capt. Mulford returned to his constituents with the gratify- 
ing news of the discontinuance, by order of the king, of the 
tax on oil. He took his seat in the General Assembly with- 
out any abatement of the hatred of the governor. On the 
second of June, the compliant house called U}) the old question 
about the speech which he had published. A motion was made 
and carried that Capt. Mulford give now his reasons why he 
had printed a speech formerly made by him to the General 
Assembly of the province, without leave of the house. At the 



80 EASTHAMPTON. 

request of the speaker, lie proceeded to offer his reasons and 
then withdrew. The house having taken the same into con- 
sideration, a motion was made that Capt. Mulford be expelled 
this house, for i)rinting, without leave of the house, a speech 
formerly made to the General Assembly, in which are many 
false and scandalous reflections upon the governor of this 
province. It was carried in the affirmative and an order was 
made and entered that Capt. Mulford be expelled the house 
for the said offense. The malignant feelings of the governor 
were gratified, and the meanness and servility of the house 
will ever remain a matter of record. In liberality and free- 
dom, the legislative debates of the present day favorably and 
admirably contrast with those of that period. 

Capt. Mulford returned to his constituents somewhat ad- 
vanced in his knowledge of partisan patriotism, but with no 
abatement of his zeal for the protection of their liberty and 
property. A new election for representation from the county 
of Suffolk, to serve in the General Assembly, in lieu of Capt. 
Mulford, was required by a writ from the clerk of the crown. 
The influence exerted by the governor over former elections 
was not withheld on this interesting crisis, and the canvass 
was conducted by the minions of power under the exercise of 
denunciations, of arbitrary inflictions, and all the allurements 
which the smiles of patronage could offer. The people were 
true to themselves and their candidate. They could not be 
subdued, intimidated or bought, and Capt. Mulford was again 
returned a representative for Suffolk county. This confidence 
of a generous people in his integrity and talents, was certainly 
highly honorable to the representative, and it exhibited that 
most gratifying demonstration of the soundness of i)ublic feel- 
ing and public morals, the gratitude of a people for the hon- 
est exertions of their servants. The re-election was no doubt 
highly pleasing to the representative and his constituents, and 
it must have given him superadded zeal in their service, for 
the advancement of civil liberty. In the autumn of 1717, 
Captain Mulford again took his seat in the house ; in the same 
house whose decision in his case had been virtually reversed 
by the voice of his constituents, to whom the appeal had been 
made. The leading members were Col. Morris, and Robert 
Livingston, who was elected speaker, both devoted to the 
governor and submissive to his wishes. "The ox knoweth his 
owner, and the ass his master's crib." They adhered to and 
sustained without a question an administration from which 
they derived wealth antl consideration. 

The governor had received from England a copy of the 
memorial, and was pre})ared to renew again, with exasperated 
feelings, and backed by the whole support of a pliant house, 
the political and personal warfare against its author. Capt. 



EAST HAMPTON. 81 

Mulford was alone in the house, without political friends and 
without political sympathy ; but he knew his rights, and the 
rights of his constituents, and fearlessly met the conflict. Never 
was a contest more unequal or more heroically sustained by 
the weaker party. Every advantage which the power of num- 
bers could give was with his oi)ponents. He had been early 
taught to feel no veneration for corruption, however clothed, 
and he was not to he put down by contumely. He was deter- 
mined, at all hazards, that the voice of his constituents should 
be heard, even though disregarded, and he was of too bold a 
temperament to be dismayed by executive prerogative, the 
insolence arising from sudden wealth, or family ])retonsion. 

On the 13th of September, 1717, Col. Ilutsen reported from 
the committee appointed to consider of a memorial entitled 
" A memorial of several aggrievances and oppressions of his 
majesty's subjects in the colony of New York." The report 
was read and agreed to by the house. An humble address 
was by the same committee ordered to be drawn up, to be pre- 
sented to his excellency upon the said rejiort. This address, 
as might be expected, was mainly adulatory of the })oiitical 
course of the governor; denying the correctness of the facts 
stated in the memorial, and the justness of the conclusions of 
the author; charging him with a wicked disposition to engage 
the colony in an odious war ; and advising his excellency to 
instruct the agent to find out the offender that he might be 
brought to justice. The laiigmige of the address was pas- 
sionate and fretful, and exhibited the wincing of the galled 
jade. But this was not the whole of Capt. Mulford's otfense. 
Since his return, a publication entitled " An Information," 
under his own signature, had been given to the public. This 
had further excited the ire of the governor and his council, 
and on the 22d of November, a committee of the Jiouse was 
dei)Uted to take the whole matter into consideration. The 
nervous sensibility of the government and assembly in rela- 
tion to whatever proceeded from Capt. MuUbrd, a])proached 
nearly the ridiculous. If the facts did not exist or were 
grossly misrepresented in these publications, or if the argu- 
ments were weak and fallacious, truth would have demolished 
the former, and the latter would have fallen harmless. The 
importance attached to them would seem greatly to exceed 
their real consequence, unless they did, in fact, as they pro- 
fessed, expose a jjolicy interested and sordid, injurious alike 
to the mother country and the colony. The cry of Indian 
hostility and papal ascendancy from French intrigue, had long 
been used to open the purses of the people, for meeting the 
j)ayment of extravagant suj)plies voted by the house. These 
publications were calculated to expose the fraud of this man- 
agement, and to put an end to the sources of peculation and 
11 



82 E AS T H AMP T O N. 

extravagant expenditures. The expenses of the government 
were generally in arrear, and the deficiencies could only be 
accounted for from the amounts retained by the governor and 
his favorites, for extravagant salaries and colorable pretenses 
of Indian ])resents. His habits of economy, which were cher- 
ished by personal labor, were totally at variance with what 
appeared to Capt. Mulford a wasteful expenditure of the peo- 
ple's treasure. He believed that economy was as necessary to 
l^ublic as private prosperity. 

The assembly, in accordance with the invitation of the 
council, appointed a committee, of which Col. Morris was 
chairman, to meet that of the council on the evening of the 
same day. An adjournment of the house put an end to the 
proceedings of the committee. At the next meeting of the 
house, on the 26tli of June in the following year, the speaker, 
Livingston, acquainted the house that the mayor of New 
York informed him from his excellency that the council would 
appoint a committ^^e from their board to join a committee of 
the house on tlie affair relating to Mr. Samuel Mulford. The 
house ordered a committee of seven, of which Col. Morris was 
again appointed the chairman, to join that of the council. 
The joint committee met on the 27th of June, and on the 
30th of June the report of the committee on the part of the 
council, and on the first of July the report of the committee 
on the part of the house was made, and having been read, 
paragraph by paragraph, was agreed to, and the clerk of the 
house was ordered to acquaint the council of the agreement 
of the house. The representation w^as entitled "The humble 
"representation of his Majesty's Cormcil and the General 
" Assembly of the Province of New York, to the Eight Honor- 
"able the Lords Commissioners for hearing a])peals from the 
"Plantations." On the 2d of July, Mr. Wildman having in- 
formed the house that the clerk of the council had signed the 
representation, the clerk of the house was also ordered to sign 
it, and to deliver it to the council. Thus ended for the time 
the proceedings of the council and house upon the imputed 
criminalty of Capt. Mulford. 

On the I7th of September, 1720, Gov. Hunter was suc- 
ceeded by Gov. Burnet. The same assembly was again called 
together. They were affectionately remembered at home by 
their late governor, to whose regards they were entitled by 
every consideration of gratitude. Such was his favorable 
accounts of their submissiveness, that the ministry advised 
tlie continuance of them. They were considered by the gov- 
ernment, in the language a})plied on the occasion, "as good 
as made to order." Gov. Burnet, in his opening address, re- 
sorted to the old story relative to the French and Indians, by 
which former governors had been successful in obtaining 



EASTHAMPTON. 83 

large supplies. Chief Justice Morris, the leader of the house, 
drew the answer, wliicli responded satisfactorily to the address 
of the governor. At first, affairs went well with the latter, 
and the tranquillity of a well ordered des[)(»tism i)ervade(l the 
political state. At length the silence was broken^ and loud 
complaints were heard against the continuance of an assembly 
after the accession of a new governor. It was insisted to be 
unconstitutional, and opposed to the welfare of the commu- 
nity. The people were also greatly dissatisfied with the accu- 
mulation of the public debt, notwithstanding the liberal 
grants. The London merchants began to move against the 
further prohibition in commerce, and petitioned tlie king in 
opposition to the revival of the act against French trade. 
The information which Capt. Mulford, in his intercourse with 
them, ami in his memorial had communicated, had aroused 
them to the restriction on this important branch of business. 

On the 17th of October, Capt. Mulford, discussing the con- 
stitutional oi'ganization of the house, and saying that the 
colony Avas £85,000 in debt, was asked by one of the members 
whether a new choice would prevent that debt. lie answered 
it would not ; but it would remove the assembly that had 
occasioned it. A motion was made that Capt. Mulford be 
called to the bar of the house to explain what he meant by 
those words ; he was accordingly summoned. He being out 
of the house, the clerk was required to notify him to attend 
on the next morning. He attended according to order, and 
satisfactorily explained to the house, and iirotested against 
any intentional disrespect. On the 26th, an address was signed 
by the members of the house, with the exception of Cajjt. 
Mulford, to his excellency, upon his entering upon the duties 
of his office. Capt. Mulford objecting to the legality of the 
house, was ordered to withdraw, and, after some time, being 
called in, the speaker asked him whether he would sit and act 
with the house. He answered he could not. An order for 
his expulsion was thereupon entered, and the speaker was 
ordered to direct the clerk of the crown to make out a new 
writ to elect a member for the county of Sufiblk, in the room 
of Capt. Mulford, ex])elled the house. 

Here terminated the public and political life of one of 
nature's men. His age precluded him from further service 
and a new member was elected for the county. At a j)eriod 
long subsequent, a case in some degree analogous held the 
attention of Europe and convulsed a kingdom. The case of 
John Wilkes is a matter of history. His expulsion from par- 
liament by the exercise of royal influence was gratifying to 
the privileged orders. His return to the house by the force 
of popular favor in defense of popular rights, met the plau- 
dits of millions. His cause was the result of private ambi- 



84 E AST H AMP TON. 

tion, and not of zeal for civil liberty. In the case of Capt. 
Miilford, on the contrary, the purity and patriotism of his 
motives were unquestioned. The only notice which history 
has taken of the latter, who was for twenty years an active 
member of the colonial legislature, is contained in eight lines 
of a history of New York, by Wm. Smith, the only historian 
of the period. Had Mr. Mulford found more favor with the 
parasites of power, and less with the peo})le, his services 
would have been duly chronicled. At the commencement of 
the American revolution, Smith retired with the tories to Can- 
ada, and retained the smiles of his king in the enjoyment of 
a lucrative office. Capt. Mulford was now approaching eighty 
years of age, and he survived but four years the termination 
of his political career. He died in 1725, at the advanced age 
of eighty-one. The popular i'eelings ran so high for a new 
election of members, that Gov. Burnet was compelled to dis- 
solve the house. On the 11th of December, the king repealed 
all the acts relating to Indian affairs and the trade with Can- 
ada, thus admitting the justice and policy of an opposition 
strenuous and unremitted for many years. Every act of im- 
portance, therefore, for which Capt. Mulford had contended, 
was at last obtained by the voice of the people, and the con- 
cession of the king. 



CHAPTER XII. 

While Mulford was thus upholding the rights and interests 
of his constituents, the internal history of the town presented 
few attractive features. The war against Canada, drew to that 
quarter during a period of several years a number of young 
men desirous of a more active life, who as volunteers entered 
the army raised by the colonies against the French and Indi- 
ans. Some fell in battle, others died on their return, and a 
few survived to regain their homes. This was called Queen 
Anne's War, and the campaign in 1710, which proved ex- 
tremely disastrous, was cbncluded by the peace of Utrecht in 
1713, and put an end to hostilities. The rapid diminution of 
timber had attracted attention as early as 1676, when at a 
Court of Sessions held at Southold, by his majesty's autlior- 
ity, it was ordered "that no person not having an allotment 
" and thereby a right in the commons should cut timber in 
" EasthamptoD." It now became necessary to provide against 
the frequent fires, which were found more destructive than 
the trespasses of individuals, and in 1710, the trustees were 



EAST HAMPTON. 85 

authorized to call out the inhabitants to assist in extinguish- 
ing them. Uj)on the erection of the church u few years after- 
wards, it was found necessary to resort to Gardiner's Island 
for timber of sufficient size for the frame. The clearing of 
the woodlands for agricultural purposes had doubtless been 
greatly instrumental in bringing about this extraordinary 
scarcity. 

The absence of sufficient pecuniary incentive to individual 
enter])rise, led the people to supi)ort at the public charge 
many conveniences found indisi)ensable to a comfortable 
existence. In 1677, a house was erected for flouring jiurposes, 
at the commencement of the south beach lane, which thus 
derived the appellation of the Mill Lane, and in 1710 the 
difficulty of procuring smithing on all occasions of necessity 
induced the erection of a smithery near the same place, and 
the employment of a blacksmith at the public expense. The 
church which stood in the bnrial grountl, having, by the in- 
crease of poi)ulation, become too small for the accommodation 
of the people, it was resolved in 1716 to build a new one. It 
is somewhat remarkable, that at a period so early, timber 
should not have been found of sufficient size for the frame ; 
but this seems to have been the fact, from the circumstance 
of persons having been sent to Gardiner's Island to procure 
it. The church was raised in 1717, but not completed for 
worship until the spring of 1718. Benches were at first used, 
and persons were ajjpointed at a town meeting to locate or 
seat the worsliippers. Subsequently, pews were made around 
the walls, having fronts and partitions of wainscoting, with a 
balustrade upon the top. The pulpit was placed in the centre 
of the north side ; and a gallery, about eight feet high, occu- 
pied the other sides. The pews were retained by the families 
to whom they were allotted, and their descendants, nearly one 
hundred years. On the occasion of the opening of the new 
meeting house, Mr. Hunting preached an appropriate dis- 
course, and though the building was then in an unfinished 
state, the congregation continued thereafter to assemble in 
it. 

In 1714:, three of the inhabitants in attempting to pass near 
the outlet of Georgika Pond, were carried by the force of the 
current into the surf and drowned. This was the greatest 
number of persons that had met death at one time since the 
settlement, and the bereavement was severely felt. Notwith- 
standing the liazards of a frequent exposure upon the neigh- 
boring waters, only one previous death from drowning is 
found recorded. In September, 1719, Georgika Pond was the 
scene of another unfortunate occurrence of this kind. Three 
young persons and a slave returning to their home in Wayun- 
scutt, on the Sabbath, were drowned when they had nearly 



86 EASTHAMPTON. 

reached the shore. This calamity was succeeded by another 
of a similar character in the following February, when four 
of the inhabitants were drowned in the ocean opposite the 
town, from a boat "stove" by a whale. Such a number of 
deaths by casualty in the short space of a few months, cast a 
gloom over the town, which events so little to be anticijjated 
and in so small a circle, could not fail to produce. 

From 1722 to 1731, Samuel Hudson, of this town, filled the 
office of clerk of the county, and for many years that of 
clerk of the town. He early removed to Middletown, in 
Connecticut 

The proprietors of Montaukett became, in 1726, dissatisfied 
witli the management in the hands of the trustees of the 
town, to whom it had been entrusted since the purchase, and 
placed it under the charge and discretion of five men selected 
from the tenants in common. This change continued for two 
years; when it was again committed to the care of the trus- 
tees, under whose conti'ol it has ever since remained. 

In 1727, a new office was created, or one was filled which 
had previously remained vacant in the absence of any whose 
strong arm and steady eye were peculiarly fitted for the exe- 
cution of its duties. R. Syme was chosen common whipper, 
at the comjiensation of three shillings in cash for each man 
whipped. The poor rate this year amounted to £23. 2s. Id., 
and there were but five paupers on the poor list ; the number 
certainly indicated a wholesome state of morals and general 
industry. 

In 1728, Spanish pirates infested the seas and committed 
extensive dej)redations along the coast. In the first week of 
September, a piratical schooner of six guns and eighty men 
anchored in Gardiner's Bay. In the night, the crew landed 
upon the island for the purpose of plunder. The family of 
Mr. Gardiner had retired to rest, and, until their slumbers 
were disturbed by the shouts of the buccaneers and their 
attempts to break open the house, had no notice of their ap- 
j)roach and were unconscious of danger. Having ascertained 
that all resistance would be unavailing, Mr. Gardiner, who 
had been for some time confined to his bed by sickness and 
was too ill for removal, conmiitted his children and the 
females of his family to tlie care of an Indian, who had been 
domiciled with him as purveyor for his table from the waters 
and woods of the island, that he might transport them to the 
opposite shore. Some of them had already escaped from the 
house and concealed themselves among the shrubbery in the 
garden, while others had fled to a neighboring swamp. The 
Indian had fortunately left his canoe at a distance, and after 
having gathered together some of the fugitives, was enabled 
by a circuitous route to elude the vigilance of the pirates and 



E A S T HAM P TON. 87 

reach Accabonack harbor. The usual place of crossing the 
bay was strictly watched, to prevent information from being 
conveyed to the other side. Having made good an entrance 
into the house, the robbers proceeded to accomplish their de- 
signs. In the pursuit of plunder, they destroyed the furni- 
ture, opened tlie beds and scattered their contents to the air, 
and took possession of every table service, the bedding, 
clothing, and household articles of every description. Ex- 
cepting a small silver tankard, which was seized by Mrs. 
Gardiner as she hurried from her dwelling, all the family 
plate fell into their hands. Towards those who remained, the 
ruffians exercised, the most brutal treatment. Mr. Gardiner 
was severely wounded, and many of his laborers were cut by 
their weapons, and otherwise suffered from their violence. 
During several days, they continued their dejjredations ujjon 
the provisions and stock, and removed to their vessel everj- 
available article of value the island afforded. One man was 
taken on board and detained three days. On the third or 
fourth day information was got to New London, whence a boat 
was immediately sent to Rhode Island with the intelligence. 
The volunteers answered the beat of the drum, and two 
sloops, manned with seventy men each, under the command 
of Ca})t. John Clarke and Robert Elliott, set out in pursuit. 
Receiving word on the way from a i)erson named Bebee, who 
had escaped from their bands, that the buccaneers remained 
at anchor under the island, they pushed forward with all ex- 
pedition, but their approach was discovered or suspected, and 
the pirates escaped. 

From their neighbors the people of the island had received 
no succor. They were themselves greatly alarmed, and had 
no means of assailing an enemy on the water. On the Sunday 
succeeding the departure of the pirates, Mr. Huntting preached 
from the text, "The bands of the wicked have robbed me," 
etc.; he availed himself of the occasion to reprove his people, 
in strong terms, for their want of ])re})aration to defend them- 
selves against an attack to which they were equally exposed, 
and the absence of any effort to assist their neighbors "as far 
as the law of humanity, which is God's law, bound them." 

An account of the commonage, comprising the names of 
the owners, and their respective amounts, was ordered by the 
trustees, for the i)uriios^ of making a lurthcr division of the 
commons. Mr. Dominy, who had heretofore uniformly been 
employed as surveyor, was again selected, and proceeded, with 
the commissioners associated with him, to allot among the 
proprietors what was called ten acre divisions. 

In 1738, Thomas Chatfield, a son of one of the first settlers 
of that name, possessed of a sound and discriminating mind, 
and qualified for the station by a previous exercise of the 



S8 E AS T HAMP TO N . 

duties of justice of tlie peace, in the reign of George II, was 
appointed one of the judges of the Court of Common Pleas 
for the county. He continued to hokl the office fourteen 
successive years, and until the period of his death. His sou, 
John, was suhsequently, under the reign of George III, ap- 
pointed to the office of justice, and continued to exercise its 
duties until the political independence of the colony. He was 
a man of peculiar manners and mind ; and by extensive read- 
ing, and a retentive memory, had treasured up much olden 
information, to which he had added, on a visit to London, 
interesting personal anecdote. His whole costume and hear- 
ing were ever of an age long anterior to his own, and might 
be referred back to the days of our pilgrim ancestors. With 
great self possession, remarkably correct and deliberate in 
speech, and singularly quaint in language, he possessed an 
immovable exjiression of countenance, great gravity, and an 
air formal and erect. In historical reading, his knowledge 
was extensive and accurate ; this was his favorite pursuit, and 
for it the cultivation of his farm was often neglected. At the 
fireside and in the study of his pastor, he found more con- 
geniality than Avith the labors of the field ; and he only 
abandoned his familiar resort when his reverend friend, by 
his second oi- third marriage, had sti'ongly indicated a |)refer- 
ence for the incidents of the present life to those of antiquity. 
Had circumstances given his lot a difierent direction, he might 
have been one of the greatest antiquarians of his day. He 
fitted for college under the care of the Kev. Mr. Huntting, and 
gratluated at Yale, in 1735. 

Eleazer Miller, the grandson of John Miller, whose name 
is among the grantees of the town, was, in 1748, elected a 
member of assembly, and continued to fill the station until 
1769, a period of twenty-one years. His first service embraced 
a term of twenty years, and a second of one year. A continu- 
ance in office for so long a period, gained him the sobriquet 
of Asscmbiyman Miller, by which a])pellation he was more 
iamiliarly known than by his christian name. He was suc- 
ceeded in olfice, after a warmly contested election, by Col. 
Woodhull. He lived to the great age of ninety, respected by 
his townsmen for his probity and hospitality. 

Mr. Huntting continued to preach until 1746, with the tem- 
porary assistance of Mr. Mead. His broken health and 
advanced age admonished him that the period had arrived 
for the termination of his laboivs ; and at liis solicitation, his 
young assistant had been invited b}^ the congregation to sup- 
ply his place, preparatory to a future settlement. 

Mr. Mead had, however, another destiny, and his future 
course was interrupted by sudden sickness and death, His 
manners were popular ; his mind was well instructed in the 



EAST HAMPTON. 89 

requisites of his profession ; and he was a good scholar and 
attractive preacher. Much beloved by the people, his death 
was greatly lamented. The few of his sermons which have 
been preserved are systematically written, and forcibly and 
feelingly inculcate the principles of his faith. 

This disajipointment caused the congregation to seek an- 
other person to fill the place, and in Noveml)er, 1745, Mr. 
Samuel Buel presented himself with a letter of introduction 
from the Rev. Aaron Burr. Mr. Buel had proceeded as far as 
Newark, on his way to Virginia, and had turned back to sup- 
ply the vacancy in this town at the solicitation of President 
Burr and Mr. Tennant. The letter speaks of him as a pious, 
judicious, and ingenious young man, and an excellent preach- 
er; and states that his destined journey would not have been 
stopped for any other place. Mr. Buel had partially prepared 
for his calling under the charge of Jonathan Edwards, then a 
minister at Northampton, in Massachusetts, and since so cele- 
brated for his theological writings. He graduated at Yale 
College in 1741, and was ordained an itinerant preacher in 
1748. From this period, he was among the most active of his 
profession in promoting, fostering and guiding the great 
awakening or religious excitement, which was then almost 
universal in the eastern and middle provinces. L'uring the 
absence of Dr. Edwards, he had filled his pulpit with such 
great devotion — such zeal and warmth of expression and vivid- 
ness of feeling — in promulgating to his congregation the 
sacred faith which had been taught him by that learned and 
pious man, as to increase materially the number of commun- 
icants. Proceeding to other parts of New England, he con- 
tinued his fervent appeals in the churches, with unremitting 
industry and zeal. It was during the general excitement that 
he came to this town, and was settled on the 19th Septem- 
ber, 1746. 

The retirement of Mr. Huntting followed the installation 
of Mr. Buell, and was unbroken by any public employment 
during his future life. He was the sou of Mr. John Huntting, 
who died at Dedham, in Massachusetts, in 1682, and whose 
father, of the same name, came from England in 1638, and 
settled at that place. Nathaniel was born at Dedham, No- 
vember 15th, 1675, and graduated at Harvard College in 1693. 
He married Mary Green, and was the father, by this wife, of 
ten children, seven of whom attained maturity. His descend- 
ants are yet inhabitants of the town. Mr. Huntting was a 
man of mild, retiring manners, and most kind and generous 
feelings. He was a profound scholar in theological studies, 
and rigidly orthodox in the faith of his church. His sermons, 
of which a great number remain in manuscript, are method- 
ically written, forcibly expressed, and abounding in scriptural 
12 



90 EASTHAMPTON. 

illustration. Upon the local aifairs of his people, he declares 
his mind freely and firmly, as they may require in truth, 
censure or approval. His reflections upon the death of his 
grandchildren and friends, are imbued with so much piety 
and resignation, and with so deep a sensibility and tender- 
ness, that they exhibit a heart full of gentle and amiable 
feelings. He died on the twenty-first day of September, 1753, 
in the seventy-sixth year of his age, having been the minister 
of the town for fifty years. The Rev. Mr. White, of Southamp- 
ton, preached his funeral sermon, in which his learning and 
virtues were warmly commended. 

One hundred years had, in 1750, elapsed since the first set- 
tlement of the town. The pioneers whose wanderings had 
here been stayed, and whose lives had been spent in reclaim- 
ing the wilderness, were now no more. The tomb had closed 
upon the whole of that generation, and their descendants 
numbered about seven hundred. The population had dimin- 
ished by early and frequent removals of families and individ- 
uals, and had received few accessions by immigration. No 
maladies affected the health of the inhabitants, and they were 
not frequently visited by acute diseases. Consumptive af- 
fections were more prevalent ; and the number of deaths from 
this complaint exceeded those from any of the ordinary mal- 
adies. Chronic rheumatism was frequent, yet seldom danger- 
ous, and must be attributed to exposure to the moist atmos- 
phere and damp winds of the sea coast. Bilious fevers rarely 
prevailed ; intermittents, however, were during that period of 
frequent occurrence. A greater number of deaths arose from 
age and its infirmities. In 1712, of twenty-seven deaths, 
which exceeded any previous mortality in any one year, the 
ages of seven of the individuals amounted to five hundred 
and twenty-eight years. 

In the years 17o6-'38-''39, an epidemic disease called the 
throat distemper, which pervaded the New England and 
Middle Colonies, visited the town with increased mortality. 
During the intermediate year, 1737, there were only five 
deaths, being the smallest number in one year since 1696, 
when there were only three. The mortality of 1738 was ma- 
teiially increased by another disease called the lung fever. 
The former distemper in its incipient stage resembled a severe 
cold, but its general characteristics were a swelled throat, 
white or ash colored spots breaking out upon the skin, and 
great debility of the whole system, with a tendency to pu- 
tridity. Under an apprehension that the disease was infec- 
tious, the alarm at first was very general, and in 1738 was 
much increased by tlie accompanying pestilence. The greatest 
mortality was among children. Seventy-eight persons died 
during the three years. 



EASTHAMPTON. 91 

In 1742-'43, the dysentery prevailed, and increased the 
mortality of those years. This distem})er then, for the first 
time, reached in its prevalence to an epidemic, though it had 
before occasionally affected individuals. 

Upon the whole, the climate had been favorable to health 
and longevity; and probably a more salubrious atmosphere 
can not now be found. The heat of summer and the cold of 
winter is moderated by the adjacent ocean, and the winds 
which blow from over it, and notwithstanding the thermome- 
ter sometimes ranges between eighty and ninety degrees 
Fahrenheit for a few hours, yet the moisture of the atmos- 
phere diminishes the influence of the heat upon the body, 
and the southwesterly winds, which usually set in by eleven 
o'clock in the morning, degrade the mercury to about seventy 
degrees. Fogs prevail for a short time in the spring, but are 
not considered unhealtliy, and heavy dews during the sum- 
mer mitigate the severity of drought. 

The principal commercial intercourse was had with Boston, 
and several sloops were employed in the trade: among others, 
as early as 1705, the sloop Endeavor, Abraham Schellinx, 
master. Cattle, horses, sheej), goats, and -oil, were bartered 
for lumber, the produce of the West India Islands, and " such 
articles as merchants deal in." 

Agriculture had not been conducted with the S])irit neces- 
sary to ensure a high state of cultivation. The lands had al- 
ready begun to fail of their original j)roductiveness; the crops 
were diminishing for want of attention to manuring, and the 
quantity of land under tillage decreased with the decreasing 
crops. More lands were thrown into pasture as tillage was 
abandoned, and the farm yards yielded less towards the 
means of production. Between the farm yard and tillage, 
there is perfect reciprocity ; the contents of the former are 
increased by the productiveness of the latter, and the crops 
are enlarged, by its consequent bounty. There is no stronger 
evidence of unskillful husbandry, than that the di'oppings of 
cattle are suffered to be Avasted on a scanty ]iaslui-age. Other 
manures are not only expensive but are not easily obtained ; 
and many are not congenial to all soils and all climates ; the 
compost of the farm yard, however, gives a great and certain 
vitality to lands anil crops, when properly applied, and is 
always within the command of the farmer. Fish were used 
as manure, and much time and labor were expended in ob- 
taining them ; their procurement was not always certain, and 
the crop was often lost in unsuccessful seasons. Sometimes, 
the seines were abandoned altogether, and then, after a 
period, inducements to further exertions would occasion a 
return to their use. To the present time these changes have 
continued. There was another cause for the decrease of cul- 



92 EASTHAMPTON. 

tivation, wliich induced more reliance on the seasons, and less 
on art ; the waters provided a ready sustenance, where labor 
was attended with excitement and amusement. And there 
was probably still another, less perceptible but more efficient 
cause, the increased consumption of ardent spirits. 

In the war against the French Canadian possessions, which 
commenced in 1756, and ended in the conquest of Canada, in 
1760, many active individuals enlisted from this county. 
Captains Elias Hand and Jonathan Baker, of this town, raised 
two companies, and were both at the attack of Ticonderoga 
by General Abercrombie, and present, under General Amherst, 
at the capture of Crown Point. They returned to their homes 
at the close of the operations of the war in the north. 

The justices of the peace for the county, resident in this 
town, in 1763, were John Chatfield, Nathan Baker, Isaac 
Barnes, and Burnet Miller. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

With the termination of the French and Indian war, com- 
menced that jealousy on the part of the British government 
of the future aspirations of tlie colonies, that led to the re- 
sistance of her measures, and those spirit-stirring times that 
preceded the war of the Revolution. The people of the town 
resented the conduct of the home parliament, and though dis- 
connected by any present interest in the troubles at Boston, 
sympathized with those who shared in them, and held a 
meeting, of the proceedings of which the following is the 
record : 

"At a meeting of the inhabitants of the town of East- 
"hampton, in the county of Suffolk, legally warned by the 
"trustees of said town, the 17th of June, 1774, Eleazer Miller, 
'• Esq., Moderator. 

"1st, voted. That we will, to the utmost of our ability, as- 
" sist and in a lawful manner defend the immunities of British 
"America; that we will co-operate with our bi'ethreu in tliis 
"colony, in such measiiros as shall from time to time appear 
"to us the most proper and the best adajited to save us from 
"the burthens we fear, and in a measure already feel, from 
"the principles adopted by the British Parliament, respecting 
'•the town of Boston in particular, and the British colonies in 
"North America in general, 

" 2d, voted. That a non-importation agreement through the 



EASTHAMPTON. 93 

" colonies is the most likely means to save us from the present 
" and further troubles. 

" 3d, voted, That John Chatiield, Esq., Col. Abraham Gar- 
" diner, Burnet Miller, Stephen Hedges, Thomas Wickham, 
" Esq., John Gardiner, Esq., and Cai)t. David Mulford, be a 
" standing comnuttee for keeping up a coiTCspondence with 
" the City of New York and the towns of this colony ; and if 
" there is occasion, with other colonies; and that they trans- 
" mit a copy of these votes to the Committee of Correspond- 
" ence for the City of New York, 

" Voted unanimously ; not one contrary vote. 

" Burnet Miller, Town Clerk." 

The colonists had now taken up arms, and the ministerial 
army filled the town of Boston. It became at once apparent, 
not only to the inhabitants, but to the provincial congress 
and the chief officers in the continental service, that no por- 
tion of the coast was more exposed to the incursions of the 
enemy than the territory of Eashtampton. Its capacious 
bays afforded a safe anchorage for shipping ; it was not difficult 
to procure skillful and experienced pilots from other quarters ; 
the country was stocked with valuable produce, and numerous 
herds and flocks gathered from all Long Island ; and there 
was no. inland to which the people could fly, carrying with 
them their grain, and driving before them their cattle. Every 
reason, therefore, existed to believe that as soon as their ne- 
cessities demanded the British would make an incursion. 
This exigency soon presented itself; for the continental 
army at the north and the patriotic citizens of the Bay 
colony in a short time succeeded in cutting off all landward 
supplies from Boston and reducing the forces of the enemy 
to the most pressing want. 

Notwithstanding the eminent hazard of all their present 
resources, the peo])le of Easthampton did not hesitate to 
peril life and hope in the common cause. Opposition to the 
exactions of the ministry was nowhere more eager and strenu- 
ous. (We have already seen that the news of resistance at 
Boston drew from them an expression of warm sympathy ; 
and that at the earliest moment, and long before the public 
recommendation to that effect, tliey nppoiuted a committee 
of safety and correspondence.) Wlien the articles of associa- 
tion, suggested by the continental congress, Avere remitted 
to them for signature, they came forward in a body, and with- 
out exception, a thing perhaps unparalleled in any other 
town, pledged themselves '-never to become slaves." The 
association was delivered into congress on the 22d June, 
1775, was signed by Juhn Chatfield, chairman of the commit- 
tee. Colonel Abraham Gardiner, Burnet Miller, Esq., Dr. 



94 EASTHAMPTON. 

Samuel Buel, Thomas Wickham, a member of the first con- 
gress, and two hundred and fifty-eight others, being all the male 
inhabitants then denizens of the town capable of bearing arms. 

On the 5th of July the committees of East and Southamp- 
ton, Burnet Miller chairman, united in representing to the pro- 
vincial congress, that the stock on Montaukett, consisting of not 
less than two thousand neat cattle and three thousand or four 
thousand sheep, was, on account of its remoteness, indefensible 
by the inhabitants and greatly exposed to the ravages of the 
enemy. In consideration of these things and of their desire to 
withhold such support from their unnatural foes, they request- 
ed congress to j3etition Gen. Schuyler to place upon that pen- 
insula a number of troops of which the company then raising 
among them should constitute a part, until they should be 
called to act in matters of more importance. They also set 
forth the perilous position of Gardiner's Island and the neigh- 
boring islands and points, and suggested that if the troops 
were sent, in accordance with their desire, a number of boats 
might easily be procured to transfer them from place to place, 
as necessity might require. The matter was referred to the 
consideration of Gen. Schuyler, and it is probable that ofiicer 
was too weak in force and too much engrossed with greater 
projects to aflbrd the succor requested; but future events 
proved the sagacity -of the committees, and in the end the 
opinion obtained that two hundred soldiers would have de- 
feated the designs of the enemy. 

Toward the end of July, intelligence was received from 
Gen. Washington that the British fleet was in motion, and 
would probably make a descent on the east end of Long Is- 
land. Congress immediately communicated with the com- 
mittee of Easthampton, advising that measures should be 
taken to secure the stock, and that the companies raised in 
the neighborhood for the continental service might be em- 
ployed for that purpose until otherwise ordered. Much ex- 
citement and diversity of opinion ensued among the people ; 
some thought the alarm unfounded; others believed the 
enemy at hand ; and all were at a loss to know by what other 
means than resistance their property could be protected. It 
is not improbable that many already thought, that by their 
devotion to the cause, they had deserved some early assistance 
at the hands of the public authorities. In the midst of these 
perplexities, they united with the other towns of the county 
in prohibiting jiny cattle from being shi])ped oft' from the is- 
land, as it was found that under pretense of purchases for the 
West India market, supplies were procured for the British 
army at Boston. This resolution was communicated to con- 
gress on the 5tli of August, and at the same time, the commit- 
tee of Easthampton again urged upon that body their forlorn 



EASTHAMPTON. 95 

situation. Perhaps congress was touched at this new evidence 
of self-denial and attachment to liberty ; i)er]iaps they yielded 
to the repeated solicitations ; this, at least, is certain, that on 
the 7th of August, they not only exhorted the j^eople to use 
their best endeavors to defeat the i)urposes of the enemy, and 
to put what troops they could raise under Col. Fanning, but 
ordered that that officer should be entrusted with the com- 
mand of four companies which Gen. Wooster was requested 
to detach from his camp, and that Ca})t. Grinnel should re- 
pair without delay to their assistance and use his best en- 
deavors to preserve the stock and protect the inhabitants 
from insult. Before these operations, which seem to have 
been commenced with vigor, but unfortunately at the last 
hour, could be carried into execution, the dangers anticipated 
were upon the people. On the 8th of August, the very day 
of these proceedings on the part of congress, the British tieet 
of thirteen sail appeared in Gardiner's Bay. It consisted of 
seven transports, two men-of-war, two brigs, one scow, and 
one armed schooner, carrying in addition to their usual force 
two hundred regulars. The enemy landed on Gardiner's 
Island and proposed to open a negotiation for the purchase 
of the stock and provisions, but Col. Gardiner, one of the ex- 
ecutors of the estate of the late ])roprietor, and guardian of 
his children, resisted all their overtures, and used every ex- 
ertion to protect the proi)erty. Despatches were sent to the 
neighboring shores and to Connecticut, to alarm and assemble 
the inhabitants, and the news quickly spread over the island. 

The people of Easthampton were fully employed in pro- 
viding against their own imminent danger, but volunteers 
from the western towns flocked in to the camp of Gen. Woos- 
ter at the Oyster Ponds, until at length it was supposed a 
thousand men had appeared to oppose the depredations of 
the regulars. On the 9tli, Wooster wrote to Gen. Trumbull 
for ammunition, stating that he had under his command four 
hundred and fifty men besides the militia, and that the enemy 
were then freely plundering Gardiner's Island, which had 
been abandoned by the people. A large body of troo])S 
started on the same day for the scene of robbery, but were 
turned back by false intelligence, which represented the 
enemy as having departed; and so badly were afiairs con- 
ducted, that though there was no want of time, or means of 
conveyance, out of the thousand men who had taken up arras, 
only one company of about forty reached Gardiner's Island, 
and arrived in time to see the British depart and the fleet 
under weigh. 

In the meantime, when the enemy were satisfied that no 
purchases could be effected, they commenced forcible depre- 
dations, and from the 7th to the 11th, the day of their de- 



96 EASTHAMP TON . 

parture, plundered the island of a great quantity of stock and 
produce. They conveyed to their ships nearly twelve hundred 
sheep, upwards of sixty head of cattle, and hogs, fowl, cheese, 
and hay, of the total value of between three and four thousand 
dollars. That he might escape the odium of robbery, and be 
revenged upon Col. Gardiner for the rebuff he had experienced 
at his hands, the British commander, Abijah Wiilard, on his de- 
parture, carried into execution a scheme that would not only 
have been disdained by a generous foe, but which was dis- 
graceful to the private character of the man. He addressed to 
that gentleman a letter in the style of familiar correspondence, 
which carried with it the idea that they were on terms of 
friendly intercourse ; that he had been invited to partake of 
the hospitalities of his house ; that the descent upon the 
island had been preconcerted ; that the form of resistance 
had been made only for the sake of appearances ; and that 
the seeming forcible seizure was really nothing but a sale, 
the terms of which would be fulfilled by payment on the part 
of the purchaser. It was a proper adjunct to such an epistle 
that it gave a grossly false account of the extent of the rob- 
bery. This letter was then left upon the table of the drawing- 
room, to be discovered by the first comer, and to make its pre- 
tenses more plausible, a guinea and a pistareen were jjlaced 
beside it. It is most probable that the commander had al- 
ready satisfied himself that it would fall into the hands of 
men who were strangers to Col. Gardiner ; for a company 
from the camp of Gen. Wooster was already approaching the 
island, and landed upon it soon after the departure of the 
British. The letter was found, and communicated to the pro- 
vincial congress. In the minds of those who had no personal 
acquaintance with the gentleman whose honor was sought to 
be impugned, and who was ignorant of his early and persever- 
ing devotion to the rights of the colonies, it produced the in- 
tended effect ; and so apt are men, from impulses of envy or 
malice, to seize upon slander of the good, that it is possible 
there were not wanting those having better opportunities of 
knowledge who were ready to propagate and darken the sus- 
picion. In the investigation which ensued, national friends 
and foes united in testifying to the integrity of Col. Gardiner, 
and every circumstance seemed more strongly to establish 
the iniquitous design of Wiilard. A captain in the enemy's 
service, who had been referred to in the letter as a mutual 
acquaintance, appeared, in his examination before a committee 
of the provincial congress, to have no personal knowledge of 
Col. Gardiner, and stated that he had heard from his friends 
among the regulars that the manager of Gardiner's Island 
had met their advances with an offensive bearing, and had re- 
fused all overtures of sale, and that when they had resorted 



EASTHAMPTON. 97 

to force, he demaiifled that they should j-et make reparation 
to the estate of whicli he was the executor. In the fullilment 
of a fiduciary trust, and when resistance liad proved unavail- 
ing, this last demand wiis just and honorable. At the earli- 
est possible day, the 1-ith of August, the conmiittees of the 
towns of Southampton, Easthamijton, and Shelter Island, con- 
vened at Sag Harbor, examined witnesses under oath, and de- 
clared that Col. Abraham Gardiner, Thomas AVickham and 
David Mulford, Esqs., and the other executors, were entirely 
free from any dishonorable imputation, and that tlie reflections 
industriously i)ropagated and spread abroad concerning them 
were altogether groundless. These gentlemen had not only 
already given abundant pledges, but proved themselves ever 
after the most active and inflexible friends of liberty. 

Capt. Wickham was at this time a member of the provincial 
congress, and on the first news of the descent of the enemy, 
obtained leave of absence and repaired to Gardiner's Island. 
The executors immediately united in a statement which was 
presented to congress on the 21st of August, setting forth the 
loss which the estate had sulfered by the depredations of the 
forces under Gen. Gage ; showing by the certificates of the 
committees of the eastern towns, and by the affidavits of in- 
dividuals, that the dei)redations were forcil)le, and that free- 
holders in the province of Massachusetts Bay were principal 
actors in them ; and finally, petitioning congress to address 
the house of representatives of that colony ami request them 
to make reparation to the injured children of Davitl Gardiner, 
deceased. On the 24th, congress conformed to the petition; 
but the reparation sought was probably never made. 

The losses already sustained, and an anxious desire on the 
part of the inhabitants to cut off the ministerial army from 
such supplies, induced congress on the 28tl of August to ap- 
point a committee to take into consideration the state of the 
stock on Gardiner's Island and Montaukett, and report what 
action was advisable in relation thereto. But with regard to 
the former plan, the most reasonable means of security had 
been already recommended by congress on the IStli of the 
same month, when it had advised the committee of East- 
hampton to remove the stock from the island. This recom- 
mendation of congress was carried into effect; desolation was 
adoi)ted as the only means of safety ; and before the 1st of 
September, all the stock, of every description, had been con- 
veyed from Gardiner's Island. But in respect to Montaukett, 
such measures were impracticable, and what would be the 
proper course of action, became a matter of serious considera- 
tion and discussion. 

The presence of Gen, Wooster in the county had hitherto 
afforded some relief to the anxieties of the inhabitants, which 
13 



98 E ASTHAMP TO N . 

■was raised to the highest pitch by the declaration of the 
enemy, that they woukl come again, with a force sufficient to 
plunder all Long Island ; Imt in the latter part of August, he 
received orders to march to another (quarter, and his continu- 
ally threatened departure was a source of the greatest vexa- 
tion. The general committee of Suffolk, and the committees 
of Eastham])tou and Southampton, repeatedly urged upon 
congress their defenceless situation and the necessity of an 
armed force at the east end of the island, and Wooster him- 
self declared that no portion of the country was more ex- 
posed. The companies raised among them for the continental 
service, comi)Osing their chief strength and holding the 
greater part of their arms and ammunition, were directed to 
join the general army at the north, and the people seemed 
thus likely to be deprived of all reliance upon themselves. 
In answer to their representations, congress gave and ])roba- 
bly could give nothing but advice. In the montli of July 
preceding, the continental government had ordered, that one- 
fourth of tlie militia in every colony should be selected as 
minute men, duly organized, and ready at the shortest notice 
to march to any place where their assistance might be re- 
quired. The commmittee of Suffolk was therefore recom- 
mended to com])ly at once with this order, and post one or 
two companies of the minute men so raised on or near Mon- 
taukett, whose duty it should be to drive off the cattle imme- 
diately upon the discovery of any suspected vessels. At the 
same time they advised that the English hay should be re- 
moved from Gardiner's Island. On the Otl/ of September, 
it was answered, with some vexation, to their recommenda- 
tions, that the demands made upon them for the continental 
service had left tliem equally destitute of men and annnuni- 
tion ; that they luid ordered out their militia that they might 
raise a company to send directly to Montaukett, which was 
then without a soldier to guard it ; that they despaired of 
being able to lit out more than one company; and that if 
sufficient force was not sent to their aid, and Gen. Gage's 
tr()oi)S should come upon them, they should be under the dis- 
agreeable necessity of comj)lying with the terms that might 
be imposed. In reply, the committee of safety, which, in the 
recess of congress, was transacting on its part such business 
as could not be intermitted, reiterated the advice previously 
given, and expressed rather abrujjtly its inability to furnish 
them even with any ammunition. On the next day, however, 
they ordered that lOO ])ounds of powder for the use of the 
peo])le of Suffolk county should be delivered on the payment 
of cash. It must by this time have become a].])arent to the 
people, that neither the continental nor the ])rovinciaI gov- 
ernment would atford them any competent assistance: and 



E AS TH AMP TON . 99 

they awaited in painful oxpectation the approach of the 
enemy and the ruin of their fortunes. Though mindful uf 
their patriotic devotion, they felt much disai)pointment, and 
lamented the hanlship of their lot, their attachment to the 
cause Avas nothing abated. At this remote day, we can a})- 
preciate at once the trying circumstances of their situation, 
and the wisdom and necessity of the course pursued by the 
su})erior authorities. 

Gen. Wooster's departure was delayed at the suggestion of 
Gen. Washington, who, under date of August 23d, wrote that he 
had received advices from Bostou that a nund)er of trans{)urts 
had sailed on a second expedition for fresh provisions, having 
probably Montaukett for theii- destination. This supposi- 
tion proved unfounded, and U'ooster marched to join the 
northern army. On the 25th August, it was reported to 
the colonial committee of safety that several ships had sailed 
from Boston and steered westwai'd. and that body immediate- 
ly addressed the committees of East and Southampton, urg- 
ing them to be vigilant und active in the preservation of their 
pro})erty. As in the former case, the alarm excited by their 
communications was found to l)e premature. 

Their safety had been so much prolonged, and their ex- 
pectations of an incursion by the ministerial army had been 
so frequently and happily disappointed, that the people were 
now aroused from their lethargy to new hopes and exertions. 
On the 24111 of January. r77t), the general committee of the 
county again addressed congress, and ex})ressed a confidence 
that the continent proj)Osed to defend and protect the island, 
and that in consideration of its extent and the exposedness 
of the eastern end of it, troops and ammunition sulHcient for 
its safety would be supplied. On the 8tli of February, the 
committees of South and Easthampton and Shelter Island 
convened at Sag ]Iarl)or, addressed a memorial to congress 
setting f(.)rth that, in the strongest confidence of its benevolent 
purpose of stationing among them a force sufficient, '* with 
Heaven's blessing, to deliver and defend them from British 
attacks and ministerial vengeance," they had '* in their low 
capacity but in high sj)irits," presumed to lay an embargo 
prohibiting the sale and exj)ortation of all provisions until 
the 1st day of March ensuing, or until the sense of congress 
could be taken on the subject; intending by this course to 
insure for the forces that might be [daced among them means 
of subsistence, whi^ih it wouhl not be possible to obtain without 
great difficulty, '' when, as was menaced, their unnatural foes 
should invest them by land and by sea.'' This memorial 
concluded with these words: "We beg you will not compel 
us to flee before our enemy, but detach to our defence such 



100 E AST H AMP TO N . 

ample number of troops sufficient, in conjunction with our 
own, to answer this in)])ortant ])nrpose, and in your wisdom, 
continue and confirm the above-mentioned embargo." The 
hig-h spirits expressed in tiiis memorial, as well as the embargo 
7-esolved upon, had doubtless been induced by the fact, that 
the provincial congress Avere now at length attempting to 
raise four companies for the defence of the colony and the 
prevention 6f depredations on Long Island. On the 24th, 
congress approved of this embargo, and recommended it to be 
made general throughout the county, which was accordingly 
done by order of the general committee ; but on the loth of 
the following month, when the hope of affording armed pro- 
tection was probably abating, it was ordered to be left in the 
discretion of that committee to continue the measure (after 
the 1st of April ensuing.) oj- not. 

On the 6th of March, the prize ship Sally, which had been 
owned in New York and caj^tured by tlie enemy, was driven 
ashore at Montaukett in a gale of wind. The committee of 
Eastham])ton ordered the cajjfain, who was mate of the Asia 
man-of-war, and fourteen other persons, including ten seamen, 
to be taken into custody, and after an examination had been 
made and minuted, they were sent under guard to New York. 
This hostile proceeding little recommended the people to the 
good will of their foes. 

At this period, congress was informed of advices from 
Washington and Greene, stating that from certain movements 
in the canij) of the regulars, suspicions were entertained that 
they were on the point of abandoning Boston. The commit- 
tee of Easthampton was therefore instructe(i to station suit- 
able persons at the jdaces most proper for observing the ap- 
proach of a fleet. A guard was accordingly posted at Mon- 
taukett, and on the 22d of March descried twenty sail of square 
rigged vessels apparently standing for Rhode Island. This 
information was immediately communicated, and conpiess 
was solicited to furnish assistance to the inhahitants, who were 
destitute of men and ammunition. The Committee of Satety 
thereupon ordered that a huge quantity of ammunition 
should be dispatched foi- the use of the people of Suffolk ; 
and that Brig. Gen. Woodhull, in case of any sudden invasion, 
should make such disposal of the militia of his brigade as 
as he might deem most discreet, Avithout awaiting any direc- 
tions from the provincial authorities, the committee of the 
county, or the commander-in-chief of. the continental forces. 
Contemj)oraneously with these ])roceedings, the public build- 
ings of the city, owing to the deficiency of the supj'ly, were 
ordered to be stripped of lead. These precautions proved 
premature ; for the British fleet, on the 26th, set sail from 
Nantaskett Roads for Halifax, there to await orders and rein- 



E AS T H AMP TO N. 101 

forcements, leavinf]^ behind them a number of armed vessels 
to protect such shipping as might be bound to Boston on their 
arrivaL 

When it became known that the ministerial army had de- 
termined to abandon Boston, with the probable intention of 
invading New York, the strongest fears were entertained for 
the safety of the inhabitants and property at the east end of 
Long Island. Congress, yielding to the general opinion, re- 
quested that the three companies raised in Suffolk county, 
and designed for the continental service, might remain and 
be subject to the orders of Gen, WoodhuU ; and Gen. Lee was 
detached from the continental army in Massachusetts, for the 
protection of New York and Long Island. In July, Col. Liv- 
ingston was in command of the troops stationed in Suffolk, at 
the east end of the island, and using every exertion to pro- 
vide for the security of the stock at Montaukett and other 
places; and the Commissary General had been desired to lay 
up the marketable provision in that quarter, while boats should 
be provided for the removal of the rest in case of danger. 

Meanwhile, on the 7th of A])ril, the enemy's vessels, those 
doubtless that had been left behind by the main fleet for the 
protection of British interests, were discovered by the look- 
outs at Easthampton, in the bay on the north, and at sea on 
the south ; and as the inhabitants were ignorant of the course 
actually taken by the enemy, they supposed that the descent 
so long-^and implicitly expected, was at length on the i)oint of 
consummation. A constant cannonade was \m\)t up through- 
out the day from both quarters, that the ships might not stray 
in the fog, and ringing upon the nerves of the people, raised 
the most pninful apprehensions. They gathered together 
without delay ; a company was formed upon the spot ; Ca})tain 
Dayton was invested with tlie command, and Dr. Buell, laying 
aside his sacerdotal robes, appeared armed for resistance if 
necessary. Haste was made to Montaukett to prevent depre- 
dations on the stock, and though the enemy attempted a land- 
ing, the small band presented such an a])i)earance of numbers 
by circuitous marches and a variety of disguises, that they 
reliiupiished the undertaking and returned to Boston. The 
people were highly elated at the result, and soon ascertained 
that their greatest fears had been without foundation. 

After tarrying a short time at Halifax, the enemy resolved 
on the immediate execution of their designs, and setting sail 
for New York, landed without opposition on Staten Island, 
and there established their headquarters. Upon the evacua- 
tion of Boston. Washington had marched to New York, and 
in command of a necessitous and irregular militia, oi)posed 
to a numerous, well supplied, and well disciplined army, now 
held that city by the frailest tenure. At Boston the regulars 



102 E A S T H A M P T O N. 

had been more annoyed by the deprivation of their supplies 
than by any other liostile measures. It naturally occurred to 
congress thai it might in the present circumstances be advis- 
able to pursue the same ])olicy. It was evident that the min- 
isterial army must look to Long Island for fresh provisions, 
and there were then but two ways of depriving them of this 
resource ; either by the desolation or the armed occupation 
ot the country. If tbe former measure was adopted it could 
only be made effectual by extending it over the whole island, 
and in that case a large population would be thrown upon the 
world without homes or the means of supporting life, it would 
be necessary, if such a thing were possible, to destroy or re- 
move more than one hundred thousand horned cattle, and 
other stock in proportion, leaving thirty thousand human be- 
ings without the means of support, reduced from affluence to 
starvation. The idea had only to be entertained to be reject- 
ed, and on the 20th of July, congress resolved that a removal 
of the stock, excej)tiDg such as were ht for the army, was im- 
politic and impracticable. It was therefore ordered, that, while 
every family, according to its numbers, should be allowed to 
retain a certain number of cows, the common stock in all the 
country should be collected in secure places, from whence they 
could be driven on the first alarm ; that one quarter of the 
minute men and militia should be drafted and })roperly organ- 
ized, and have it as their duty to guard and secure the stock so 
collected ; that when it was found impossible otherwise to 
preserve such stock from the hands of the enemy, the com- 
manding officer should order it to be killed or destroyed ; 
that the owners of stock so destroyed should on proper proof 
be compensated for their loss, provided they had not joined, 
and did not join the enemy; that the minute men and militia 
should be held in readiness to march to any part of the island 
at the shortest notice, with five days provisions ; that the ne- 
cessity of adequately protecting the island on account of its 
great value, and vast importance to the country, should be 
urged upon the continental congress ; and that Gen. Washing- 
ton should be informed that it might be proper for the com- 
missary general to give the stock in that region a preference 
in his purchases, on account of its exposed situation. Thus 
did tlie exigencies of the continentals, as well as the hostilities 
of the regulars, impose ui)on the people great hardship and 
inconvenience, all of which they bore for the glorv of the 
cause in which they had embarked. The letter of the presi- 
dent of the convention to Gen. Washington, enclosing these 
resolutions, concluded with the following paragrai)h : "I can- 
not conclude without ex]iressing my wishes that the detach- 
ment under Lt. Col. Livingston may be continued at their 
present post, for that part (the east end.) of the island is so 



EASTHAMPTON. 103 

much exposed to be insulted by the enemy's cruisers, that I 
fear the inhabitants woukl totally al>anih)n tlie country shouhl 
those troops be drawn off." 

On the 26th of August, before these measures could be 
fully carried into effect, the British landed on Long Island, 
in preference to New York, on account of its richness in those 
supplies which they needed. To describe the exciting scenes 
of advance, contention, misfortnne and retreat which then 
ensued, would be more interesting than a])j)i()priate to the 
history of a theatre in which they were not enacted. If the 
inhabitants of Easthampton had felt great appreliension at 
the proximity of the enemy when they iirst held Boston, and 
then afterwards possessed themselves of Staten Island, that 
feeling was greatly augmented \Then they had made a footing 
on the very soil they inhabited ; but, on the other hand, the 
equal exposure of other jiortions of the province induced 
them to bow more submissively to their fate. Many of their 
friends Avere now within the American lines, actively engaged 
in the continental service, being part of the company raised 
by their fellow townsman, Ezekiel Mulford, a farmer, Avhose 
bravery and energy in the battle of Long Island was well 
commended^ This company had been addressed at the mo- 
ment of its departure I'rom the town by Dr. Buel, who ex- 
horted them in glowing language to a patriotic performance 
of duty, and asked upon this enterprise the blessing of 
heaven. 

On the 28th. congress requested the governor of Connecti- 
cut to send a thousand troops to the aid of the inhabitants of 
Long Island, their own strength being within Gen. Washing- 
ton's lines, and therefore not available for the defence ; and at 
the same time all the towns on the coast of Connecticut were 
respectively addressed, and exhorted to lend their assistance. 
On the next day, the same body, ])robably foreseeing coming 
events, recommended with doubtful wisdom, that the people 
should remove as many of their women, children and slaves, 
and as much of their live stock and grain to the main as was 
possible, at the provincial ex})ense. On the day ensuing, 
Washington judiciously abandone<l the island, and the British 
were at length unrestrained. When these things came to 
their ears, the most intense feeling pervaded the peo])le of 
the town: it was not consternation or disn)ay, but a deep, 
subdued anxiety, partaking of that sublimity of spirit tliat 
characterized the men of the revolution. In view of the 
crisis and of the recommendation of congress, they consulted 
together as to what measures should be adopted. Some were 
in favor of removal ; others saw that by ado])ting such a 
course they would be confronting ruin to themselves and beg- 
gary to the poor families dependent upon their exertions ; 



104 EASTHAMPTON. 

and others, again, the aged and infirm, who would be a bur- 
den anywhere else, thought they could best serve the country 
by remaining and abiding their time. According to their 
various opinions did they conduct themselves. Some remained 
from one motive or another. Others, with the zealous and 
active assistance of Lt. Col. Livingston, embarked in the 
boats, which for days passed and repassed to the Connecticut 
shore, freighted with inhabitants of Long Island, all of whom 
had abandoned their firesides and native homes; some with 
nothing but the clothes they wore, and others with such of 
their worldly goods as could be borne in the exigency. The 
poor became a burden upon the well aftected of that state, 
and in some instances led a miserable and wandering life ; 
and the provincial congress might afterwards have seen its 
error, when it was vexed with the complicated claims of 
those who had, or pretended to have given, shelter and sus- 
tenance to those unfortunate people. 

Such as were able bodied and young, such as could bear the 
expense of their own transmigration and support, and such 
as from the prominent position of themselves or members of 
their families had most to fear, exercised a reasonable pru- 
dence in departing, and in many cases were enabled abroad to 
make themselves useful in the popular cause. Burnet Miller 
retired within the American lines, and becoming a member 
of assembly for the county, held that station during the con- 
tinuance of the war. Thomas Wickham, who had been an 
active member of the provincial congress, established himself 
at Stonington in Connecticut, where he annoyed the British 
in command of a sloop of eight guns. He at one time at- 
tempted with small armed boats a surprise upon the enemy's 
forces at Sag Harbor, Major Davis, who had also removed to 
Connecticut, and who then held a partisan command, together 
with Captain Grinnel, who at an early period of the year had 
been active in Sufiblk county, also engaged in this enterprise, 
and commanded two of the boats, Avhich were unfortunately 
driven ashore. The crews were captured and made prisoners 
by a Hessian major, and about twenty light horse, and the at- 
tempt was made to fire the boats, but Wickham succeeded in 
bringing them oft". Major Davis was taken to the city of New 
York, and then, in one of the damp and foetid dungeons of 
the old provost, the prison and the tomb of as many patriots, 
lingered awhile, and died. 

Those that resolved to await the course of events, were in 
some cases, subsequently obliged to retreat witliin the Ameri- 
can lines in order to escape the demands of the enemy ; but 
the greater portion remained throughout the revolution with 
but little molestation. The situation of these was, perha|3S, 
the most trying, not only to their endurance, but to their pat- 



EASTHAMPTON. 105 

riotism and integrity. However, neither the bribes nor alhire- 
ments Avith which they were teiui)te(l, iieitlier the honors nor 
the threats held out by the enemy, conhl induce them to re- 
sign the principles to which they had plighted their faith. 
This devotion was worthy of the more honor when it is con- 
sidered, that, not foreseeing the end, and being exposed by 
that means to the greatest calamities, j)erhaps not being duly 
sensible of the evils that should be patiently borne in revolu- 
tionary times, the people b)Mked uj)on the continent as hav- 
ing, in the abandonment of Long Island, deserted them in 
their distress, and delivered them over bound to the mercies 
of the foe. Considering the determination with which 
they clung to that political creed which Britain esteemed 
a heresy, it must be acknowledged that they were, upon the 
whole, treated by them with great leniency. 

A division of the British army estai)lislied itself at South- 
ampton, where also the tory governor. Tryon, took U}) his 
quarters. It having been determined to attempt a i-esuscita- 
tion of the royal government, those who held appointments 
from the king, whether civil or military, were called U))on to 
resume the duties of their resjiective offices. In Easthamp- 
ton none were found to comply, antl Col. Gardiner was ]nit 
under arrest, and threatened with the penalties of martial 
law, for refusing to call out the militia. Perceiving the vigor 
with which they were opposed, and the folly of resorting to 
forcible measures, the British made little further eitbrt to se- 
cure the friendship or subdue the spirit of the inhabitants. 

The foraging parties of the enemy dail}^ visited the town, 
and sometimes depredated u[)on property, and inflicted per- 
sonal injury upon the inhabitants. These acts, generally pro- 
ceeded from inferior officers, and when discovered by their 
su})eriors were not countenanced, but severely punished. 
Orders, however, emanated from tbe commander-in-chief, and 
were often rigidl}^ enforced, calling for {)rovisions and labor, 
sometimes at improper seasons, and when they could be ren- 
dered only with inconvenienciMir great loss. Charts and teams 
were impressed, laboringcattle killed, and hay and grain seizetl 
upon whenever the wants of the army required it, without re- 
gard to the necessities of the owner ; and though payment was 
generally made, the incidental loss and trouble was never re- 
munerated. 

Many robberies were committed by tories wlio came over 
from the neigboring shores, or had attached themselves to the 
British camp, and indeed this class of persons were looked 
upon with the most bitter hatred and indignation. Small 
bands of soldiers, also, prowling about the village and its en- 
virons, in the night time, kept the i)eople in alarm, and re- 
quired constant watchfulness. Capt. Dayton, a man of great 
14 



106 ' EASTHAMPTON. 

courage and decision, whose dwelling was alone in the woods, 
near the creek bearing his name, which empties into Georgika 
pond, was aroused in the night by an attempt of one of these 
bands to break into his house. He des})atched his little son, 
the only other inmate, by a back door, to seek aid, but he 
himself determined to defend his property. Seizing upon a 
musket heavily loaded, he called upon the assailants to desist, 
and declared that he would shoot the first one that should 
present himself. They immediately fired into the house, and 
several shots entered the post of a loom behind which Dayton 
was stationed. He, on the other hand, retained his fire until 
the door yielded to their efforts, meanwhile calling aloud, as 
if to friends at hand, to be prepared, and then discharged his 
gun. The marauders fled. The next day the sudden death 
of a soldier transpired at Bridgehampton, and indications in 
the sand about the house and in the road, strengthened and 
confirmed the belief that Capt. Dayton had killed this man. 

A detachment of the British troops was stationed at Sag 
Harbor, under the command of Major Cockrane, who became 
extremely obnoxious on account of his insolence, vindictive 
feelings, and cruel conduct. Several of the people of East- 
hampton suffered from the lash inflicted by his orders, and 
from unprovoked cuts of his broadsword. He delighted in 
punishment, more especially when administered by his own 
hand, and authentic stories of his cruelties are related that 
would be disgraceful to a savage. 

The British fleet, under the command of Admiral Arbuth- 
not, remained during the winter of 1780-81 in Gardiner's 
Bay. Requisitions were made weekly upon the inhabitants 
for provisions, and payment made for such as were accordingly 
furnished. The discipline observed by this force favorably 
contrasted with that of the army. As an enemy they were 
without reproach. A mutual and pleasant intercourse was 
sustained, on mutual concessions which involved no sacrifice 
of principles. 

An order was made by the general requiring the people to 
assemble on a particular day to take the oath of allegiance. 
A few attended, some took it, and others found means of avoid- 
ing it. One Bennet was ordered by the officer who adminis- 
tered the oath to repeat after him what he should say. In- 
stead of proceeding with the oath, the officer thereupon gave 
some further directions respecting it ; which was immediately 
repeated by Bennet. The officer explained, and Bennet re- 
peated the explanation. The officer denounced his stupidity, 
and Bennet repeating the abuse with undisturbed gravity, 
was turned away as a fool. He thus intentionally avoided 
the oath, and on account of the ridicule this conduct cast 



EAST HAMPTON. 107 

upon the whole affair, the officer proceeded no farther and 
the meeting dispersed. 

In the spring the fleet left the ancliorage in pursuit of the 
French squadron which had wintered at Newport. In passing 
to sea a ninety gun shi]), the Culkxlen, went on shore at 
Montauk, near Shagwagonoek, and another ran upon a rock 
at the point. The armament of the former was taken out and 
th^ ship burned, and the latter sunk. 

While the army remained at Southampton some of the 
officers occasionally quartered themselves in this village. 
Many were the merry meetings which were h«ld by them 
and the roisterers of the town, who frequented the public 
house then kept by Nathaniel Iluntting. U the old wainscot- 
ing of that ancient building could speak, of what high mer- 
riment and frolicking, of what oceans of flip, foaming under 
the application of the heated poker; of what cans of well- 
tempered punch and gin toddy, would it not relate ! Wliat 
jests, and songs, and stories that raised peals of roaring laugh- 
ter, and what friendly greetings and amalgamation of joyous 
hearts, when Lord Percy, Lord Cathcart, the unfortunate 
Andre, and other young men of equal standing who constitu- 
ted the families of Tryon and Erskine, met to disport them- 
selves, could it not disclose! No political questions disturbed 
the com])any, and no air of superiority over the wits of the 
village kept them aloof. Whatever })erson or thing could add 
joy to the ])resent moment and was proper to be tolerated, 
was freely admitted. Even within the door, the ebony face 
of old Sharper, the slave, companion and friend of his master 
(Stratton,) was often seen, not obtrusively, but in answer to 
the call of those who were acquainted with hie shrewd pleas- 
antry, apt remark, joyous face, and inimitable power of bur- 
lesque and jollity. This was neutral ground, and the reproach- 
ful epithet of rebel and traitor was not heard. These persons 
had no vindictive feelings to gratify, and it was held here at 
least to sink everything that might lead to collision of senti- 
ment. It was out of the })ower of the people to control the 
state of affairs, and it would have been folly to increase the 
evils of their situation by morose and violent conduct. 

Major Andre quartered at the house of Col. Gardiner several 
weeks, and his gentlemanly dei)ortmeut and generous feelings 
won the esteem of the family. Doctor Nathaniel Gardiner, 
the son of Col. Gardiner, was a surgeon in the northern divi- 
sion of the American army during the war, and was on a visit 
to his father at this j)eriod. Having come within the British 
lines he was liable to be seized as a spy, and though the family 
took every precaution to conceal his [)resence, it was soon per- 
ceived that Andre was not without knowledge of it. He for- 
bore, however, any allusion to it, and subsequently ex- 
pressed a regret that their relative situations had prevented 



108 EASTHAMPTON. 

hira from soliciting an interview. Andre afterwards repaired 
to New York, and iiis ultimate fate is well known. On the 
night preceding his untimely death, the young surgeon whom 
he had thus encountered, enjoyed, hy a strange coincidence, 
the melancholy pleasure of his society. He left with the 
family several memorials of friendshi}), and tradition relates 
how, on one occasion, at the command of Sir Henry Clinton, 
he entertained them with a masterly recital of the inimitable 
ballad of Chevy Chase. Dr. Gnrdiner studied surgery and 
physic under Dr. Turner, and subsequently under Drs. Ship- 
pen and Rush, ot Philadelphia. He continued in the army 
until the end of the war, and in 1786, '89, and '90, was a mem- 
ber of the state legislature. Col. Gardiner finding his resi- 
dence in Easthami)ton unpleasant, and even hazardous, re- 
moved with his family to Stonington, Connecticut, whither 
Capt. Wickham and others had preceded him. With his friend 
Mr. Buel, he had been active in behalf of his neighbors, and 
had used the influence he had acquired in his intercourse with 
the British officers, to insure the protection of their persons 
and property. His house had been a refuge for those who 
sought protection from the abuse of infeiior officers, and were 
desirous of obtaining redress from the commander-in-chief. 
Upon the conclusion of peace he returned to the town, and 
here he continued to reside until his death. 

Mr. Buel, who was on friendly and intimate terms with Gov. 
Tryon, and who from his lively disposition, ready wit, and fond- 
ness for the chase, was a favorite ol Sir AVilliam Erskine, often 
had it in his power to mitigate the severity of their orders by 
his intercession, which was seldom relustnl when timely made. 
He often joined the tnble parties ot the commander and gov- 
ernor, which he enlivened by humorous anecdotes and an ex- 
citable disposition. On one occasion he was behind the hour 
appointed for a deer hunt to which he had been invited. The 
commander had detained the })arty, which was princi[)ally 
composed of younger officers, who were impatient of the delay. 
They were already mounted, but perceiving his friend Buel, 
he required them to dismount and receive him. Lord Percy, 
afterwards Duke of Northumbeiland, and then an aid-de-camp, 
was, while impatiently pacing the floor, introduced to Mr. 
Buel, who thereupon as';..ed him what ])ortion of his majesty's 
forces he had the honor to command. Percy, whose ill humor 
had been raised by the order to dismount, replied, "a legion 
of devils, just from hell." "Then,'' said Buel, with a low 
obeisance, "I supyxtse I have the honor to address Beelzebub, 
the prince of devils." Tlie re]);vrtee was so severely felt as to 
induce his lordship to ])ut his hand uj>on his sword. This was 
instantly rebuked by Sir William, and though the laughter 
of his friends was turned upon Percy, long before the chase 
had ended, the ])leasantry, politeness, and marked attentions 



EASTHAMPTON. 109 

of the parson, had not only restored him to good humor, but 
had forced him to admire and respect the man, Avhom in his 
passion he had denominated an old rebel. Mr. Buel made no 
concealment of his whig principles, and on proper occasions 
did not hesitate to avow them. Meeting with him at another 
time, and on the Saturday of the week, Sir William remarked 
that he had ordered the people of his parish to appear on the 
morrow with tlieir teams at Soutliampton. To which Mr. Buel 
replied that he was aware of it; but that he was commander- 
in-chief on that day, and had annulled the order. The prece- 
dence was pleasantly admitted, and the order revoked by the 
general. 

Thus did the towns-people, at home and abroad, pass the 
war of the revolution. Success crowned the efforts of the 
country, and a treaty of peace w^as signed on the third of Sep- 
tember, 1783. The termination of this contest restored sol- 
diers and refugees to their homes, and long jjarted neighbors 
and relatives eagerly embraced, amid thanksgiving and con- 
gratulation at their safe return and the political redemption 
of the colonies. Sadly, however, did memory recall some to 
whom it was not given to receive the greetings of friends, or 
join in the glory of the triumph. Of those who engnged in 
the continental service five or six only survived to receive 
the bounty of the government. 

It is difficult to take leave of this period without contrast- 
ing the features which marked it, in every portion of the 
country, with those developed in our own times. The strife 
was not then who should grasp emoluments, but who should 
do their country service. Men thought not of sacrificing 
honor and good repute to possess themselves of the mere 
luxuries of life. Grave offenders did not go abroad with im- 
punity and brave the institutions of society. That lax morality 
and morbi(,l frivolity, wliich views as venial even heinous 
crimes, provided they be softened by adventitious considera- 
tions, was not tlien emulated, and did not then gain for its 
possessor the reputation of an amiable person. The disparage- 
ments of envy and malice found no approving ear, but all 
sought to elevate one another and thus all were elevated. A 
high and noble tone seemed to have been inspired by the 
magnitude of the labor to which they had devoted their 
energies: it pervaded their writings and public proceedings, 
and even their conversation and social intercourse. The deep- 
est interest was felt for the character of the revolution, and 
every one endeavored to show himself fie to possess and ex- 
ercise the rights declared inherent and inalienable. Corrup- 
tion is not the necessary though the general concomitant 
of success and prosperity, and the continued existence of a 
good governiuent can only be secured by the continued exer- 
cise of those virtues that gave it foundation. 



no EASTHAMPTON 



CONCLUSION. 

The neglect which husbandry sustained during the Revo- 
lutionary War had diminished the productiveness of the soil ; 
and the loss of living fence, in the destruction of the prim or 
privet hedges, had not only considerably enhanced the farm- 
er's expenses, but had detracted much from the favorable 
appearance of the fields. In the month of bloom, the beauty 
and fragrance of this shrub, which everywhere in thick set 
lines surrounded the enclosures, was surpassingly splendid. 
The atmosphere was perfumed during the period of blossoms, 
and the dark and dense foliage happily contrasted with the 
lighter green tint of the herbage. The consumption and in- 
termittent fever, which prevailed about this time to an extent 
before unknown, were charged by many to the malignant 
qualities of this beautiful and useful shrub ; not that there 
was any evidence of this, but because there appeared to many 
in this a possible cause. It had, therefore, been doomed to 
the axe, long before it was destroyed by the blasts of the at- 
mosphere, and if the decree of Providence had not interfered 
it would doubtless have fallen soon before the rashness of 
ignorance. It is well understood that the vegetable creation 
is fed by the absorption by its foliage of that part of atmos- 
pheric air most injurious to animal life, and that trees, instead 
of detracting from, add to the chances of health and longev- 
ity. Consumptive complaints are not confined to localities. 
They nre found more or less under every climate, and are 
like most other diseases, derived from hidden and inscrutable 
causes. 

From 1747 to 1775 there had been in the town 650 deaths 
and 1,010 births. The years 1778 and 1775 were remarkable 
for the great number of births; there were 50 in each year. 
In 1752 and 1771 there were in each year 38 deaths. In 1763 
there was 37, and in 1753 30 deaths. The smallest number 
was in the year 1749. 

Sag Harbor, a small part of which lies within the bounds 
of this town, had been occupied by the British during the 
war of the revolution, and suftered a sus2)ension of all trade. 
As early as 1700, when yet the commerce of New York was 



EASTHAMPTON. Ill 

carried on principally Avith schooners and sloops, a small trade 
was had from this port with the West Indies. Coh Gardiner 
owned two bri^^s engaged in that trade, and there were several 
sloops em])h)yeil in the hslieries and coasting bnsiness, par- 
tially owned by the inhabitants of this town. On the conclu- 
sion of the war, Doctor N. Gardiner and his brother, purchased 
a ship called the Hope, and sent her upon a whaling voynge, un- 
der the command of Ca})t. Ripley, she being the Hist ship that 
sailed from Sag Ilarboi'. About the same time tiiey despatched 
upon a like voyage a brig of the first class. These voyages 
were unsuccessful, and the parties sustained an almost total 
loss of their investment. Tlie Hope returned with only 
twenty or thirty barrels of oil, and the brig was yet more 
unfortunate. This was an unprosperous beginning, and their 
future efforts gave no encouragement for further prosecution 
of the business. Subsequent adventures, were, liowever, more 
successful, and the ])ort has since become the third or fourth 
in importance in this biancli of commerce in the United 
States. 

A spirited efibit, promoted chiefly by Mr. Buel, Doctor N. 
Gardiner and William Payne, was made in 1784 for the erec- 
tion of an academy by individual subscription Dr. Gardiner 
contributed largely in funds and j)ersonal exertions, On its 
comj)letion, Mr. Payne, who had previously taught a grammar 
school, conducted the institution as teacher, and for many 
years was very successful. Under his care and instruction, 
and that of his associate Mr. Peck, the academy flourished 
and was filled with students from abroad. Remote states and 
even the West India Islands, to which the fame of the insti- 
tution had extended, contributed to swell thenumber of ])Upils. 
Shortly after its erection, it was gratuitously surrendered by its 
proprietors to the Regents of the University of the state of 
New York, and was incorporated by them in the name of 
Clinton Academy, being the first incorporate*! by the state. 

The Rev. Samuel Buel died July 19th, 1798, at'^the advanced 
age of eighty-two years. He was born at Coventry, in the 
then Colony of Connecticut, September 1st, 1716. His father 
was a farmer. A natural Avarmth of disposition, and an 
imaginative mind, gave to his character an enthusiastic tend- 
ency. In whatever he engaged, he pursued his purpose with 
great ardor and perseverence. In the pulpit, the decision 
and solenmity of his countenance was extraordinarily impres- 
sive ; and the fervor and earnestness of his manner engaged 
and retained the solemn attention of his heareis. His voice 
was strong, and his speech loud, with a cadence not unpleas- 
ant. His action was forcible and often violent; the fall of 
his hand on the toj) of the pulpit giving no tolerance to the 
repose of the sleeper. For the advancement of the faith, his 



112 EASTHAMPTON. 

labors in the ministry were unremitted ; indeed he was al- 
ways active and sometimes impetuous. The style of his ser- 
mons has the fault of being ratlier diffuse ; but they are neither 
lukewarm nor undecided. He dealt with his people in the 
thunder of the law and tlie threatenings of the word more 
generally than in the unsophisticated truths of the gospel ; 
yet a warm tone of benevolence and charity pervades many 
of his discourses. He published by the press fourteen ser- 
mons, besides a narration of the revival of 1764. In a note 
to a sermon ])ublished in 1776, he says, "I desire to mention 
it with humility and gratitude that I have not by bodily in- 
disposition been prevented from preaching one Sabbath for 
above twenty-nine or now quite thirty years; nor have I had 
a day's sickness during the same space of time." He occa- 
sionally indulged in poetry, and his little performances are 
not without merit Most of his verses are of a devotional cast, 
and are imbued with that due sanctity, which ever on religious 
subjects, seemed to control his fancy. The ])oem "Youth's 
Triumph," which was written and made public at the desire 
of a number of young people, contains the greatest number 
of stanzas of any of his ])erformances, and has much harmony 
of versification. His colloquial powers were respectable, and 
having a lively wit and a warm fanc)', his conversation on 
general topics was amusing and instructive. Delighting in 
society and tlie enjoyment of social intercourse, his doors 
were open to a large circle of friends and acquaintances. In 
the pursuits of tlie chase he was ever 'ready with the fore- 
most, and he was pleased to detail to old sportsmen anecdotes 
of his successful hunts and happy shots. He was small of 
stature, but possessed of uncommon vigor of body, and was 
fond of violent exercise. A bold and fearless rider, he re- 
tained his activity in the saddle till late in life. His visits, 
in performance of his parochial duties, were always cheerfully 
and hospitably received ; and his conversational talent, and 
great store of anecdote, insured him a welcome i'rom the 
young and the old. A vivid reminiscence of every matter 
pertaining to the character of Mr. Buel is still retained among 
his surviving parishoners, accompanied with a grateful sense of 
his eminent and valuable services. The degree of S. T. D. was 
conferred upon him by Dartmouth College. He was married 
three times, and his last wife still survives. He had eight 
children, one only of whom, the widow of the Rev. Aaron 
Wooiworth, is living. 



APPENDIX. 



Cop7 Deed for the Town of Easthampton, dated April yo 29th, A. D. 1651. 

These present wrighting testyfleth an aRreemeut behvixth the worship'!! Theopliilus 
Eaton, Esquire, Gover'r of the Co!ony New Haven, and the worship'!! Edward llopliins, 
Esquire, Governor of the Colony Conoticut, and their asociutes on the one i)arte, and 
Poyatasut, Sachem of Maiihausulc, Wyandaush, Sachem of Mantacut, Momowotom, Sachem 
of Chorehaife, Nowedonah, Sachem of Shinocolie, and tlieir asuciates the otlier part, t!io 
said Sachems having sould unto the foresaid Mr. Katon and Jlr. Hopliins with tlicir asociates, 
a!! the Laud lying from the bounds of the Inhabitants of Southampton unto the East side 
of Napeali next unto Meantacut high land with the whole breadth from Sea to Sea, not in- 
trenching upon any in length or breadth which the Inhabitants of So\itliampton liave and 
do possess, aa they, by Lawful right, shall make appear, for and in consideration of Twenty 
coats, Twenty-four hoes. Twenty-four liatchets. Twenty-four linivea, Twenty-four looldng 
glasses, one Hundred muxes already received by us, tlie fore named Sachems for ourselves 
and associates, and, in consideration thereof, we do give up unto the said purchasers, all 
our right and interest in the said Land to them and tlieir Heirs forever; also do bind our- 
selves to secure their right from any claims of any others, whether Indians or other nation 
whatsoever that do or may hereafter Challenge interest therein; also we, the said Sachems, 
have covenanted to have liberty ffowl, k to lish in any or all the Cricks and ponds, and Hunt- 
ing up and down in the woods without molestation, they giving the English inhabitants no 
Just offence or injury to their goods and Chatties, likewise they are to have the tins and tails 
of all such whales as shall be cast up, to their proper right And desire they may be friendly 
dealt with in the other part;) also they reserve libertie to fish in all convenient places for 
shells to make wampam; Also if the Indians Hunting of any Deer they should chase them 
into the water and the English should kill them, the English shall have the body and the 
Sachem the skin, and, in testimony of our well performance hereof, we have set to our 
bauds the Day and Year above written. 
Witness to this, Richard Wodhull— The mark of Poygatausut [x] Niunhansuck, Sachem, 

Tho. Stanton— The mark of Wayandansh [x] Meantacut, Sachem. 

Bobert Bond — The mark of Momowota [x] Corchake, Sachem. 

Job SajTe — The mark of Nowedonah [x] Shinacoke, Sachem. 

Cheekanoo [x] his mark, their iuterijreter. 

Whereas by Direction from Theophilus Eaton, Esq'r., k mee, Edward Hopkins, a pur- 
chase was made by Thomas Stanton and others of a part of ye Easteme p't of Long Island, 
of ye Indian Sachems, the true proprietors thereof, in ye name of Theophilus Eaton, Esq'r., 
aforesaid & my selfe w't our assosiates, as by ye s'd agreement Dated yo 29th of April, lOlH, 
may more fully appear w'ch s'd purchase was paid by me, Edward Hopkins, and amounted 
to ye sum of Thirty pounds, fower Shillings, Eight pence, as may appear by a note of p'ticu- 
lars under the hand of Thomas Stanton, to whom ye s'd sum was paid, now delivered to 
Bobert Bond, of Easthampton: this writing witnes'seth, y't I have Kec'd ye formentioned 
Bum of Thirty pound, fower shilhngs. Eight pence, of ye Inhabitants of Easthampton, and 
have delivered unto y'm ye writing of said purchase and all ye interest that thereby was pur- 
chased. In witness whereof, I have hereunto subscribed yo Kith of April, 1G51. 

I say received £30. 4s. 8p's. me. Edwaud Hopkins. 

Patent of the Town of Easthampton, from Richabd Nicoixs, 1666. 

BICHABD NICOLLS, Esq'ke, Govern'r Generall under his Royall Highness, James, Duke 
of York and Albany, &c., of all his Territoryes in America, To all to whom these presents 
shall come, sendeth Greeting; Whereas there is a certaine Towne in the East Riding of 
Yorkshire, upon Long Island, scituate, lying and being, in the eastermo.-t part of the said 
Island, commonly called and knowne by the name of East Hampton, now in the Tenure or 
occupation, of several ffreeholders and Inhabitants, who having heretofore made Lawfull 
Purchase, of the Lands thereunto belonging, have likewise manured and Improved a consid- 
erable part thereof, and settled a competent number of ffamilyes thereupon; Now for a con- 
firmation, unto the said ffreeholders and Inhabitants in theire Enjoyment and Possession of 
the premisses. Know yee That by virtue of the commission and Authority, unto me given 
by his Royall Highnesse, I have Ratifyed, Confirmed and Granted. And by these presents 
do Ratify, Confirm and Grant unto Mr. John Mnlford, Justice of tho Peace, Mr. Thomas 
Backer, Thomas Chattield, Jeremiah Concklyne. Stephen Hedges, Thomas Osbume, Senior, 
and John Dsburne, as P.iteutoes for and on the behalfe of themselves and their Associates, 
the ffre. holders and Inhabitants of the said Towne. their Heirs, Successors and Assigues, 
All that Tract of Land which already hath beene or that hereafter shall be Purchased for and 
on tho behalfo of the said Towne whether from the natives Indyan Proprietors, or others 
within the Bounds and Limitts h reaftt-r sett forth and expret-t, (viz't). That is to say Their 
West Bounds beginning from the East Limitts of the bounds of Southton (as they are now 
laid out and stak't, according to agreement and consent) so to stretch East, to a certaine 

15 



114 APPENDIX. 

Pond, commonly called the Fort Pond, which lyes within the old Bounds of tho Lands be- 
longing to tho Mimtauke Indyans, and from thence to go on still East, to the utmost extent of 
the Island; On tbe North they are Bounded by the Bay, and on the South by the Sea, o^- Main 
Ocean; All which said Tract of Land within the Bounds and Limitts before mentioned. And 
all or any Plantation thereupon, from henceforth, are to belong and aijpertain, to the said 
Towne, and bee within the Jiu-isdiction thereof; Together with all Havens, Harbors, Creeks, 
Quarryes, Woodlands, Meadows, Pastures, Marshes, Waters, Lakes, llivers, Ifishing, Hawk- 
ing, Hunting and ffowling. And all other Proflitts, Commodityes, Emoluments and heredita^ 
ments. to the said Tract of Land and premises within tho Limitts and Bounds afore men- ' 
tioued described, belonging, or in any wise appertaining. To have and to hold, all and singu- 
lar the said Lands, hereditaments and premises with their and every of their appurtenances, 
and of every part and parcel! thereof to the said Patentees and their Associates, their Heirs, 
Successors, and Assignes, to the jn'oijer use, and behoofe of the said Patentees and their 
Associates, their Heirs, Successors and Assignes, forever : Bloreover I do hereby Katify. 
Confirm and Grant unto the said Patent es and their Associates, their heirs, successors and 
Assignes, All the Privileges belonging to a Towne ^vithin this Governmen't, And that the 
place of their ijresent Habitation, shall continue and retaiue the name of East Hampton, by 
w'ch name and stile, it shall be distinguisht and Knowue in all Bargains and Sales, Deeds, 
Records and Writings; They the said Patentees and their Associates, their Heirs, Successors, 
and Assignes, Rendering and Paying such Dutyes and Acknowledgements, as now are or 
hereafter shall bee constituted and Establisht, by the Laws of this Governm't under the 
obediencSe of his Royall Highnesse. his heires and Successors; Given under my hand & 
seale, atflfort James, in New Yorke, the 13th day of March, in the 19th yeare of his Maj'tiea 
Raigne, Annoy Domini, 1666. 

RiCHABD NiCOLLS. 

Recorded by order of the Governo'r, the day and yeare above written. 
Mathias Nicolls, Sect. 



Patent of the Town of Easthampton granted by Thos. Dongan, 1686. 

BEfjcntas Dongan, Capt. Generall Governour in Chieft and Vice Admlrall of the Province 
of New Yorke and its Depeudeucyes, Under his Majesty, James the Second, by the grace 
' of God, of England, Scotland, France and Ii-eland, King, Defender of the faith, kc. To all 
to whome this shall come Sendeth Greeting. Whereas Richard NicoUs, Esquire, Governo'r 
Generall under his then Eoyall Highness, James, Duke of Yorke and Albany kc, now his 
present Majesty of all his Territoryes in America, did, by a certaine writing or Patent un- 
der his hand and seale bearing Date the thirteenth day of March, in the nineteenth yeare of 
his Late Majestyes Eeignc, and in the yeare of our Lord One thousand six hundred sixty- 
six, Ratifye] confirme and graunt unto Mr. J hn Mulford, Justice of the Peace. Mr. Thomas 
Backer, Thomas t'hatfield, Jeremiah Conkling, Steven Hedges, Thomas Osborne, Senior, 
and John Osborne, as Patentees for, and in the behalfe of themselves and their associates, 
the Freeholders and Inhabitants of the Towne of East Hamilton, !»cituate, lyeiiig and being, 
in the East riding of Y'orkshire, upon long Island, in the eastermost part of the said Island, 
and to their heirs, successors and Assigns, all that tract of Land which already hath been or 
that hereafter shall be Purchased for and on tho behalfe of the said Towne, whether from the 
Natives Indyan Proj)rietors or others within the bounds and Limitts, hereafter set forth and 
exprest. That is to say, their west bounds beginning from the East Limitts of the bounds of 
Southampton, as they are now laid out and stHbel according to agreement and consent so to 
stretch East to a certaine Pond, comonly call, d the Fort Pond, whii h lyi s wiihin the old 
bounds of the lauds belonging to the Mont ink Indyans, and from thence to go on still east 
to the outmost extent of the island. On the north they are bounded by the Bay, and on the 
South by the Sea or Main Ocean, all which said tract of land within the bounds and limitts 
belore menconed an<l all or any plautacon thereupon from henceforth are to belong and ap- 
pertain to the said Towne and be within the Jurisdiccon thereof. Togetlier with all havens, 
harbors, Creek-;, Quarries, woodlauts, meadows, pastures, marshes, waters, lakes, rivers, 
fishing, hawking, hunting and fowling, and all other proffltts, comodityes, emoluments & 
hereditaments to the said tract of laud and premisses within th» limitts and bounds afore- 
menconed described belonging or in any wise appertaining. Cn hal)c anti to ijolliall and singu- 
lar said lands hereditaments iind premisses with tliein, and every of them appurtcuuces and 
of every I'art and parcel thereof to the said Patente(^s and their assoc iates, their heirs, suc- 
cessors and Mscignes to the propper use and behoofe ottho said Patentees and their associates, 
their heirs, successors & assignes forever. Moreover, the said Richard NicoUs, Esq' r, Gov- 
erno'r asaforesaii), did thereby ratifye, confirme and grant, inito the said Patentees and their 
associates, their heirs, successors and assignes, all the Pri\ Hedges bel nging to a towne within 
this Government, and that the place of tlieir present habitacon shall continue and retaine the 
name of East Hamilton, by which name and stile it sli.ill bo recognished and knowne in all 
barga nes and sales, Deeds, Keconls & writings. They the said Patent' es and their associates, 
their heirs, siiece^sors and assignes, llendcriug and paying sucrh dutyes and acknowledgements 
as Ui'war or hereafter shall be constituted and established by the laws of tli sGovernment 
under tho obedience of his Royall Highness, his heirs, and successors, as by the said writeiug 



APPENDIX. 115 

Or Patent Recorded in the Secryes OfiQce, relacon being thorennto bad, may morn fully aji- 
pear. 31113 IHIlfrrag, There is part of a certain Tract of land within the bounds and liuiiUs 
aforc^nid. comoiily called Mciuntack, whi<h remains jett nnimichasi d from the ludyaus. 
"3111) Ji21tjrrEas, Samuel Mulford and Thomas James, some of the IVreeholders of the said 
Towne of East Hampton, by the request of the rest of the ft'rceholdi rs of said towue, have 
made applicacon unto me that I would grant liberty unto the ll'reeholders of said towue to 
purchase said tract of land off the Indyans, and that the fee and iuhery taiice thereof may only 
belong unto the ffreeholders of said towne. their heirs, successors and assignee I'on^ver, And 
that I would couflrme the iireniisses by Patent under the seal of the Province, iloiu IJiiiotB 
gcf That I, the said Thomas Dongau, l)y virtue of the power and authority to me, derived from 
his most sacred majesty aforesaid, and in pursuance of the same for and in considcracon of 
the Quitt rent hereinafter reserved and other good and lawful consideracons me thereunto 
moveiug, have granted, ratifyed, released and conlirmed, and by these presents do grant, 
ratifye, release and confirm unto Thomas .lames, Capt. Josiah Hobart, Capt. Thomas Tol- 
mage, Lieut. John Wheeler, Eusigne SamuoU Jlulford, John Mulford, Thomas Chatfield, 
Senior, .Jeremiah Coukline, Stephen Hand, Kobtrt r)a>ton, Mr. Thomas Backer and Thomas 
Osborne, ffreeholders and Inhabitants of East Hampton hereinafter erected and made one 
bodye corporate and politique, and willed and determined to be called by the name of the 
trustees of the ffreehoiders and Comonalty of the towne ot Easthanipton, aud their succes- 
sors, .all the afore recited tracts and necks of land within the limitts and bounds aforesaid 
together with all, and singular the houses, messuages, Tenements, buildings, milnes, milue- 
dams, fencings, enclosures, gardens, Orchards, fields, pastures, woods, underwoods, trees, 
timber, feedings, comon of pasture, meadows, marshes, swamps, plaines, lUvnletts, rivers, 
water [courses], brooks, streames, bea<-hes, quarries, mines, mineralls, creeks, harbours, high- 
wayes and easements, ffishing, hawking, hunting ai;d fowlint;, (silver and gold mines Except- 
ed), and all the flranchizes, Protfits, Comodityes and liereditaments whatsoever, to tbe said 
tracts and ne^ks of lands and premisses belonging or in any wise appertaining or therewith- 
all used, accepted, repute d or taken, to belong, or in any v,'ise to apjiertaiue, to all intents 
purposes and constructions whatsoever, as also a}l and singular the rents, arreareadges of 
rents, issues and prolitts of the said tract of laud and premisses heretofore due and paya- 
ble. As also I do, by these presents, give and grant full power, lyceuce and authority unto 
the said Trustees of tlie ffreeholders and ComonaJty of the s'd towne of East Hampton and 
their successors, to purchase the said tract of land of the native Indyans, comonly called 
Mountack, and if it should so happen that the said Indyans should be unwilling to make sale 
of the i-aid tract of land comonly called Mountack, within the Limitts aforesaid. Then I 
further will and determine on behalf of his most sacied Jlajesty, his heirs and suci-essors, 
that the s'd Trustees of the ffreeholders and comoualty of the towne of East Hampton afore- 
said and their successors forever, shall at all times hereafter be the only persons capable in 
the law for the pnrcliase of the said tract of land comouly called Mountack and none others. 
2Eo tiaUc anil to l)olti all the before rei ited tract of laud aud premisses with them, and every of 
them appurtenances unto the said Thomas James, Cajit. Josiah Holiart. Capt. Thomas 
Tolmage, Lieut. John Wlieeler, Ensigue Samuel Mulford, John Mulford, Thomas Chatfield, 
Senior, Jeremiah Coukline, Stephen Hand, Kobert Dayton, Mr. Thomas Backer. Thomas 
Osborne, Trustees of the ffrceliolders and comoualty of the towne of East Hampton aud 
their successors forever to and for the severall and respective uses following aud to no other 
use intent aud puiiiose whatsoever that is to say as for and concerning all and .vi»;/«/'.ir the 
severall aud respective parcells ot land and meadow part of the granted premisses in any 
wise taken up and appr'iated before the d ly of the date hereof unto the severall and respecti\ e 
present ffreeholders or Inhabitants of tlie said towne of East Hampton, by virtue of the before 
recited deed or Patent. To the only use benefite and belioofe of the said resiioctive present 
ffreeholders and Inhabitants, and their severall aud respective heirs aud assii,fncs forever. 
And as for and concerning aU and every such pareell or parcells, tract or tracts of land, re- 
mainder of the granted jjremisses not yet taken up or approijriated to anj' particular per- 
son or persons by virtue of the before recited Deed or Patent to the use, benefite and be- 
hoofe of such as have been purchasers thereof, and their heirs aud assigues forever, in pro- 
porcon to their severall and respective purchasers thereof, made as Tennants in comon, 
without any lett, hinderance or molestacon to be had or reserved upon pretence of joynt 
Tennancy, or survivorship any thing contained lierein to the contrary thereof iu any wayes 
notwitlistauding. And as for and concerning that part of the afon^-recited tract of land that 
remains as yet unpurchased of the Indj-aus coimmly called Mountack, together with all and 
singular the appurtennces thereto belonging, unto the only i^ropper use; Vieuefite and behoofe 
of the said Trustees of the ffreeholders aud comoualty of the towne of East Hampton and 
their successors forever. 'To br Ijolticn of his said JIajesty, his lieires and successors in free 
and comon soccagc according to the Manuor o: East Greenwich, iu the County of Kent, in 
his Ma'tyes Realme of England, yielding, sending and paying therefore yearly, and every 
yeare from henceforth unto ourSoveraigne Lord, the King, his heires and successsors, or to 
such officer or officers as shall be appointed to receive the same, the sume of one Iamb or 
the value thereof in Currant money of this Province upon the five aud twentyeth day of 
March, at New York, in full of all rents or former received rents, services, acknowledgements 
and demands whatsoever. Aud further by virtue of the i)ower and authority to nic, the said 
Thomas Dougan, given as aforesaid and in pursuance of the same, and for the reasons and 
consideracons above recited I have willed, determined, declared and gi'anted, and by these 
presents do will, declare, determine and grant that the said Inhabitants and ffreeholders, the 
ffreemen of Ea.st Hampton aforesaid, comonly called by the name of the ffreeholders and 
Inhabitants of tlie towne of East Uamptou, or by whatever name or names they are called 
or named, and their heires and successors forever henceforward, are, and shall be, one body 
Coriiorate and politique in Deed and name, by the name of the Trustees of the ffreeholders 
and Comon.aUty of tlie towne of East Hampton, and them by the name of the Trustees of 
the ffreeholders and Comonality of the towne of East Hamilton, one body Corporate and 
Politique iu Deed and name. I have really and fully for his said Majesty, his heires and 
Buccessors, Erected, made, ordained, constituted and declared by these presents, and that 



116 APPENDIX'. 

by the same name they have siiccession forever, and that they and their successors by the 
name of the Trustees of the ffreeholders and Conioualty of the towne of East Hampton, be 
and shall be forever in future times, persons able and capable in law to have, perceive, re- 
ceive and possess not only all and singular the premisses, but other messuages, lands. Tene- 
ments, Priviledges, Jurisditious, ffranchizes and hereditaments of whatsoever kinde or species 
they shall be, to them and their successors in ffee forever, or for the terme of a yeare or 
years, or otherwise whatsoever manner it be, and also goods, chattells and all other things of 
whatsoever name nature, quality or species they shall be, and also to give, grant, release, 
aliene, assigne ani dispose of lands, tenements, hereditaments and all and every other thing 
and things, act and acts to do and execute by the name aforesaid, and that by the same name 
of the Trustees of the flreeholders and Comoualty of the towne of East Hampton, to plead 
and be impleaded, answer and be answered, unto defend and be defended, they are and may 
be capable in whatsoever place and places, and before whatsoever judges and Justices, or 
other persons or officials of his said Majesty, his heires and successors in all and all manner 
of ai tions, plaints, suitt s, complaints, causes, matters and demands, whatsoever of what 
kind quality and species the same be and shall be in manner and forme, as any other of his 
Majestyes Liedge people within this Province, can or are able to have, require, receive, pos- 
sess, enjoy, letaiue, give, grant, release, aliene, assigne and dispose, plead and be impleaded, 
answer and be answered, unto defend and be defended, do permitt or execute. And for the 
better enabling the Trustees of the ffreeholders and Comonalty of the towne of East Hampton 
aforesaid, in doeing and executeiug all and singular, the premisses I have willed, granted and 
determined, and by these presents do will, grant and determine that from henceforth and 
forever hereafter, the said Trustees of the ffreeholders and Comonalty of the towne of East 
Hampton, do and may have and use a comon seale which shall serve to execute the causes 
and affaires whatsoever of them aud their successors. And further I will and by these pres- 
ents in behalfe of his .said Majesty, his heirs and successors, that henceforward forevermore 
there be and shall be Trustees'of the ffreeholders and comonalty of the towne of East Hampton 
aforesaid to be chosen and elected, as in these pre.-euts hereafter is menconed who shall be and 
shall be called the Trustees of the ffreeholders and Comonalty of the towne of East Hamptcn, 
and they and their successor's shall and may at all convenient times hereafter upon a publique 
sumons to be obtained at the request of any three of the Trustees aforesaid trom any of his 
Matyes .Justices of the place of tile said towne or for default thereof, froiu any of the Justices 
of tiie County of Suffolke for the tmie being, assemble and meet together in the towne house 
of the said towne, or in such other publique place as shall be from time to time appointed to 
make such acts aud orders in writeing for the more orderly doeing ot the premisses as they, 
the said Trustees of the ffreeholders and comonalty of the towne of East Hampton aforesaid, 
and tl:eir successors from time to time, shall and may think convenient. So alwayes as the 
said acts and order be in no wayes repugnant to the laws of England and of this Province, 
which now are or hereafter may be established, and that they be not in any wise against the 
true intent and meaning of these presents. And also I will ordaine and determine that all 
and singular the aforesaid acts and orders from time to time, shall be made and ordered by 
the vote of the Major part of the said Trustees of the ffreeholders and comonalty of the 
towne of East Hampton aforesaid, or at least by the Major part of such of them as shall from 
time to time assemble and meet together in manner as aforesaid, so always there be not 
fewer in number than seven of the said Trustees present at such meetings so to be held as 
aforesaid. And for the better Execucon of this grant in this behalfe, I have assigned, nomi- 
nated, created, constituted and made, aud by Ihese presents do assigne, nominate, create, 
constitute and make, Thomas James, Capt. Josiah Hobart, Capt. Thomas Talmage, Lieut. 
John Wheeler, Ensigne Hamuell MuUford, John Mullford, Thomas Chatfield, Senior, Jeremiah 
Conkline, Stephen Hand, Robert Ua\ ton, Mr. Thomas Backer, Thomas Osborn, to stand and 
be the first moderne Trustees of the ffreeholders & Comonalty of the towne of East Hamp- 
ton, to cemtinue in the aforesaid office from aud after the date of these presents, untill the 
time that others be elected and chosen in their stead, according to the manner and forme 
hereinafter expressed. And moreover I do by these presents for and on behalfe of his most 
sacred majesty aforesaid, his heirs and successors, appoint that the Trustees of the ffree- 
holders and comonalty of the to\\nie of East Hampton, constables and assessors within the 
towne of East Hampton aforesaid, Be yearly chosen on the first tuesday of April forever 
(Viz't), twelve Trustees of the flreeholders and comonalty of the towne of East Hampton, 
two constables and two Assessors in such publique jjlace as the Trustees for the tirue being 
shall appoint and direct, and that the Trustees, Constables and Assessors be chosen by the 
majority of voices of the ffreeholders aud tt'ieemen of the town of East Hampton aforesaid. 
Anil Lastly, I give and grant for and on behalfe of his said Majesty, his heires and successors, 
by these preser.ts to all and every person and persons, and to whatsoever person subject to 
his said Majesty, his heires and successors, free and lawfull power, ability aud authority, that 
they ox any of them, any messuages. Tenements, lands, meadows, feedings, pasttnes, woods, 
underwoods, rents, revercons, services and other hereditaments whatsoever within the said 
County of Suffolke, whieh they hold of liis said Majesty, his heires and successors, unto the 
said Trustees of the ffreeholders and comonalty of the towne of East Hampton and their suc- 
cessors lorever, ^lirlliing and p.aying therefore unto his said Majesty, his heires and successors 
on the said twenfy-fifth day of march yearly, and every year forever the full and just sume of 
forty shillings currant money of this Province at New York, Wherefore by virtue of the 
power and authority aforesaid, I do will and command for and on behalfe of his said Majesty, 
his heires and successors, that the aforesaid Trustees of the ffreeholders aud comonalty of the 
towne of East Hampton and their succcssos have, hold, use and enjoy, and tliat th«y shall 
and may forever have hold, use aud enjoy all the libertyes, authorityes, customes, orders, ordi- 
nances, ffranchizes, aequittances, lands, tenements aud hereditaments, goods and chattells 
aforesaid, according to the tenure and effect of these presents without the lett or hinderanco 
of any person or persons whatsoever 

ilii iTcst moni) whereof, 1 have caused the seale of the said Province to be hereunto affixed, 
and these presents to be entered in the Secretaryes Office. Witness my hand at Fort James, 
the ninth day of December, One thousand six hundred eighty-six, and in the second yeare of 



Appendix. 117 

the Raigne of said Soveraigne, Lord James the Second, King of England, Scotland, ffranro 
& Ireland, Defender of the faith, &c. 

By his Excyes command, THOMAS DOXGAN. 

J. S. SWINTON. 

Endorsed. — At a Council held at Fort James, iu New York, the 9th day of December, 
1686. 

Present, His Excellency, the Governor, Major Anthony Brockholst, Mr. Frederick Phil- 
lips, Mr. Steph. V. Cortlandt, Mr. John Savagge, Major Jarvis Baxter. 
This Patent was approved ofl". 

J. S. SwiNTON, Ck. Council. 

Recorded in the Secrycs Office for the Province of New York Lib., No. 2 Book of Patents 
begunn 1080. 

J. S. SwiNTON, D. Sec'ry. 

May it Please yo'r Excell'cy. 

The Atturnty Goiier'll Hath perused this Patent, And Finds Nothing Contained therein 
prejudicial! to his Majestys Interest. 
Exam'd X'mber 9th, 1G8G. 

Ja. Graham. 



Patent of the Manor of Gardiner's Island, granted by Governor DoNGAN, 

Sept. 11th, 168(5. 

Thomas Dongan, Lieutenant Governor and Vice-Admiral of New York and its Dependencies, 
under his Majesty, James the second, by the Grace of God, of En^iland A: Scotland, ftVanco 
and Ireland, King, Defender of the faith and Supreme Lord, and Proprietor of the Colony 
and Province of New York and its Dependencies in America, &c. To all to whom this shall 
come Seudeth Greeting. Whereas James Farret, of Long Island, Gentleman and Deputy to 
the Right Honor'ble, the Earl of Starling, Secretary for the K:ngdom of Scotland, and Late 
Proprietor of Long Island by virtue of a Patteut under the broad Scale of England from his 
most Sacred Majesty of Blessed memory, Ch.arles the first, of England. Scotland, fTrance and 
Ireland, King, did by his deed or Pattent under his hand and seal bearing date the tenth day 
of March, One thousand six hundred and thirty-nine. give, grant and confirm unto Lion 
Gardiner, his heirs. Executors and Assigns, all that Island commonly called by the Indians 
Maiiehanock, and, by the English, Isle of Wight, together with full power and Liberty to the 
said Lion Gardiner, his heirs. Executors and Assigns and their successors, to Enjoy the Pos- 
session of said Island forever, and with all to buijd and Plant thereon, and to dispose thereof 
as they shall think titt, aud Likewise to Execute and jjut iu Practice such Laws for church 
and Civil Government as are agreeable to God, the King, and the Practice of the Country, 
together with all the right. Title and Interest of him, the said Earle of Starling, to the fore- 
said Island and Premisses, as by said Deed or Pattent under hand and scale. Relation 
being thereunto had, may more fully and at large appear. And whereas Richard NicoU, Esq'r., 
Late Governor under his Royal highness, James Duke of Yorke and Albany, now his Present 
Majesty of all his Territoryes in America, Did by Pattent under his hand and sealc% bearing 
date the fifth day of October, in the year of our Lord One thousand six hundred aud sixty-five, 
give, grant and confirm unto David Gardner, sou and heir, unto the above said Lion Gard- 
ner deceased, all the aforesaid Island comonly called by the Indians Mouchonack and the 
English Isle of Wight, and now Gardner's Island, together with all the Lands, woods, mea- 
dows. Pastures, marshes, waters. Lakes, fishing, hawldng, hunting aud fowling, and all other 
Profits, Comodities and hereditaments to the said Island aud Premises Vtelonging with their 
and every of their appurtenances thereunto belonging, and evi-ry part and parcel thereof to 
have and to hold the said Island with all and singular their appurtenances to the said David 
Gardner, his heirs and assigns forever. Paying or causing to be paid to the Present Governor 
under his Royall Highness, or to his Successors at New York yeai-ly and every yeare. the sum 
of five Pounds of Lawfull mony of England, or so much of such comodities as shall be at the 
time of Payment Equivolent at the feast of St. Michael, the .\rchangel, and moreover the said 
Richard Nicols, Governor as aforesaid in consideration of .said Rent, and fnr divers other 
good reasons, and causes him thereunto moving. Did further 'irant that the said David 
Gardner, his heirs and Assigns, should enjoy in said Island .all such Priviiedges as any Towns 
within that Government had or enjoyed, and Likewise that the said Island should be free 
from depending on or the Jurisdiction of any other Towiie, both in relation of Military af- 
fairs and Publick Rates, and Solely and on y to be accountable for the Premisses to the 
Governor or his Successors appointed by his Royal Highness, now his Present M.ijesty, to- 
gether with several other things in said Patteut more fully expressed, as by said Pattent re- 
corded in the Secretary's Office, Relation being thereuuto had, may more fully and at large 
appear. And whereas, Francis Lovelace, one of the Gentlemen of his Majestys Honor'ble 
Privy Chamber ana late Governor Geu'U under his Roy.all Highness aforesaid, Did, for divers 
good causes and cousideracons, and Par icularly for a coriaiu summ of mony to him in 
hand Paid. Reniitt and forever acquitt him, the said David Gardner, his heirs aud Assigns, 
all the above Recited Rent of five Pounds Lawfull mouv of England, to bee Paid in manner 
aforesaid, and did only Reserve in Lieu and Stead tliere' f, as an Acknowledgement to his 
Royal Highness, one Lamb to be paid on the first day of May yearly, if t e said should be 
Demanded, as by said Deed of Release under his hand, and sealed with the sealc of the 
Pro-^-ince, Bearing Date the twenty-third day of September, One thousand six hundred sev- 



118 APPENDIX. 

enty, Recorded iu the Secretary's Office, Relation being thereunto had, may more fully and 
att Large apear. And whereas, David Gardiner, in the qniett & Peaceable Possessiou of the 
Premisses, had made apijlycacou unto mee tor a ciuitirniation of the Premises. And also 
that I would erect the said Island & Premises into a Lordshipp & Maunor, by Patteut under 
the Seale of the Province. Now know yee that I, the said Thomas iJongan, for the consid- 
erauous aforesaid, by Virtue of the Authority Derived to mee from hia most sacred Majesty 
and the Poure iu mee Residing, I have given, granted, Rattifled, Released and Conlirmed, and 
by these Presents doe give, grant, Rattihe, Release and confirme unto the said David Gardiner, 
his Heirs and Assigns, all that Island formerly called the Isle of Wight, now Gardiner's 
Island, together with all the messuages, tenements, buildings, barns, out houses, fences, 
orchards, gardens, pastures, creeks, harbours, beaches, fishing, fj.viiug, meadows, 

marshes, swamps, woods, underwoods. Trees, timber, quarries. Rivers, Kuns, Rivoletts, 
brookes, ponds, Lakes, streams, creeks, harbouis, beaches, fishing, fowling, Hunting, 
hawking, mines, miueralls, (Silver and gold mines Excepted,) Jurisdictions, Royalties, 
Hereditaments, protitts, advantages and appurtenances, whatsoever to the said Island be- 
longing or in any wayes appertaining, or Accepted, Reputed, Taken, Known or Occujiied, as 
Part, Parcell or member thereof And moreover by Vii'tue of the Poure and Authority to 
mee, the said Thomas Dongan, given, and the Power in mee Residing as aforesaid, and for 
the Reasons and Cousideracons above recited, I have and by these Presents doe Erect, make 
and Constitute the said Island called Gardiner's Island, together with all and Every the above 
granted Premises, with all and every of their appurtenances into one Lordshipp and Manner 
to all Intents and Purposes, and the same shall from henceforth be called the Lordshipio and 
Mannor of Gardiner's Island. And I, the said Thomas Dongan. have also given and granted, 
and by these Presents Doe give and grant unto the said Davir, Gardiner, and to the heirs and 
assigns of the said David Gardiner, full power and authority at all times forever hereafter in 
the said Lordshipp and Mannor, one Court Leet and one Court Barron, to hold and keep at 
such time and times, and soe often yearly as he or they thall see meet, and all fines. Issues, 
amerciaments at the said Court Leet and Court Barron, to be holden within the said Lord- 
shipp or Mannor, to be sett, forfeitted or Iiuployed and Payable, or haiipeidng att any time to 
bee Payable liy any the Inhabitants of or within the said Lordship or Mannor of Gardiner's 
Island or the Limits or bounds thereof, and also all and every the Powers and authority 
herein before menconed for the holding and keeping the said Court Leet and Court Barron 
from time to time, and to award and issue out the customar}' writts to bte Is^'ued and 
awarded out of the said Court Leet and Court Barron, to be kept by the heirs and assigns of 
the said David Gardiner forever, or their or any of their Stewards Deinited and Appointed 
with full and ample Power and authority to Distrain for Rents, Services and against smnmes 
of money payable by Virtue of the Premissess, and all other Lawful remedies and meanes 
for the having possessing. Recovering, Levying and Injoining, the Premissess and fvery Part 
and Parcell of the same, and all wasts Estrays happening within the said Lordshipp and 
mannor of Gardiner's Island, and all and every sume and summs of money to be ivJd as a 
post fine upon any fine or fines to be Levyed of any Lands, tenements and hereditaments 
within the said Lordshipp or Maunor of Gardiner's Island, together with the advowsou and 
Right of Patrouadg, and all and every the church and churches erected or established, or 
hereafter to be erected or established in the said Mannor of Gardiner's Island. And lastly, 
I, the said Thomas Dongan, by virtue of Power and Autliority aforesaid. Doe give and grant 
unto the said David Gardiner, his heirs and assii;ns, that ail and singular the 'Pennants of 
him, said David Gardiner, within the said Mannor, shall and may at all times hereafter meet 
together and choose assessors within the mannor aforesaid, according to such rules, ways 
and methods as are prescribed for citii s, towns and countys within the Province, by the Act 
of General Assembly, for the Defraying the Public Charge of each Respective C itty, towns 
and county, and all such summs of money so Raised to collect and Dispose of for the use 
aforesaid, according as by the said act of Generall Assembly is Established and Directed, to 
have and to hold all and singular the said Mannor of Gardiner's IsLtnd and Premisses, with 
their and every of their appurtenances, unto the said David Gardiner, his heirs and assigns, 
to the only Proper benefitt and behofl'e of him, the .said David Gardiner, his heirs and as- 
signs forever, to bee holden of liis most sacred majesty, his heirs and successors in free and 
comon soccage, according to the tenure of East Gree'vrich, iu the Kingdome of England, 
yielding and Paying therefore yearly and every year unto his majesty, his Heirs and Suc- 
cessors, or to such Officer or Officers as shall from time .o time be appointed to Receive the 
same, one Lamb on the first day of May, at New York, in lieu of all services whatsoever. 

In Testimony whereof, I have caused these Presents to be Recorded iu the Secretary's 
Office, and the seale of the Province to be hereunto affixed this eleventh day of September, 
one thousand six hundred eighty-six, and in the second year of his Majesty's Reign. 

By his Exyes command, THOS. DONGAN. 

J. S. SwiNTON, Sec'ry. 



NOTES 



[Paffe 9.] 

P. 95. " 11 Augti, 1635. In the Batclieler de Lo, Master Tho. Webb vs. 
New England, Lion Gardiner, ^6 yers, and his wife Mary, 34 yers, and Eliza 
Colet, 38 yers, their maid servant, and Wm. Jope, 40 yers, who are to i^ass to 
New England, have brought, &c. 

[ " MS. volume in folio, at the Augmentation Office, where the Rev'd Joseph 
Hunter, one of the Record Commissioners, presides, in Rolls Court, "West- 
minster Hall." It contains the names of the persons permitted to embark at 
the port of London.] 

Coll. Mass. Hist. So., Vol. VIII, 3d series. 

[Paffe 10.] 

1635, Nov. 28. " And by the end of the month. Captain Lion Gardiner 
arrived at Boston, in a small vessel, in which were twelve men and two 
women. Their destination was also the mouth of the Connecticut. Gardiner 
was an expert engineer, and had served in that capacity in the Low Coun- 
tries. He had been engaged to go there and construct a fortification, and 
" to command it," by the Lords Say and Seal, and Brook, Sir Arthur Hes- 
lerigge. Sir Matthew Boynton, and others, under the immediate direction of 
Governor John Wintrop, Junior. The authorities of Boston improved the op- 
portunity of his being hepe, to engage him to undertake the completion of 
the fortifications on Fort Hill. To improve the important services of Captain 
Gardiner, before his departure for Connecticut^ the town " agreed yt for ye 
raysing of a new worke of fortification vpon ye ffort hill, about yt wh^'li is 
there already begune, the whole towne would bestowe fourteen days worke a 
man." For this end, '' Mr. Deputie, Sir Henry Vane, Mr. John Wintrop, 
Sen^., Mr. Wm. Coddington, Mr. John "Wintrop, iu^, Capt John Vnderhill 
and Mr. "Wm. Brcnton, were chosen commissioners, Mr. John Cogan is 
chosen treasurer, and Mr. Wm. Dyer, clarke, for y^ furtherence of this work, 
which will be gone in hand with soo soone as y.i weather perraitt, in regard 
to yt yi ingineere, Mr. Lyon Gardiner, who doth so freely offer his help there- 
unto, hath but a short time of stay." 

Drake's Hist and Antiq. of tho City of Bostou, page 187 to 189. 

[Faffc 13.] 

" Lion Gardiner had seen some service in the Low Countries, under Gen- 
Fairfax. He came to this country about the year 1033 or 1634, and erected a 
fort at Saybrook, Connecticut, which was so named in honor of Lords Say 
and Seal, and Lord Brooke.; and Mason, in his history, says ' Lieut. Gardi- 
ner comi)limeiited or cntcrti'ired him with many big guns,' on his arrival at 
the fort after the conquest of the Pe(|uot<. You will perceive he has refer- 
ence to his island. It a very beautiful island of 2,500 or 3,000 acres. It now 

15 



120 NOTES. 

■wholly belongs to the family, and was, until the death of the last Proprietor, 
an entailed estate ; but I am told the entail is now broken. The Proprietors 
have always been called ' Lords.' " 

CoU. Mass. Hist. So., Vol. Ill, 3d series, 

[Fa^e 19.] 

Before two years had elapsed from the first settlement, the names of 
twenty-seven other persons were recorded as proprietors in the purchase, and 
as inhabitants of the town. The following is a list of these persons, most of 
whom are mentioned in the records with the appellation of " Goodman," a 
few only with that of " Mr." : Thos. James, Lion Gardner, "Wm. Mulford, 
E-ichard Stretton, Jno. Miller, Luke Libby, Benj. Price, Thos. Osborn, Sen., 
Wm. Hedges, Ralph Dayton, Thos. Chatfield, Thos. Osborn, Jun., Wm. Ed- 
wards, Wm. Fithian, Richard Brookes, William Simons, Sam'l Belkhap, 
Chas. Barnes, Sam'l Parsons, Joshua Garlick, Fulke Davis, Nathaniel Bishop, 
Wm. Barnes, Jno. Osborn, Jeremiah Neale, Stephen Hand, Thos. Baker. 
Of the first settlers, Ralph Dayton, who had been distinguished as a magis- 
trate and selectman, died in 1657 ; John Hand, in 1663 ; Lion Gardiner, in 
1663 ; Richard Stretton, in 1690 ; Wm. Barnes, in 1700 ; Thos. Baker, in 
1700 ; Joshua Garlick, at the age of one hundred years, in 1701 ; Richard 
Shaw, in 1708, and Thos. Osborn, at the age of ninety years, in 1712. A 
record of the births and deaths not having been preserved previous to the 
ministry of the Rev. Nath. Huntting, but few of those that occurred before 
that date are known. 

[Fa^e 24.] 

The county of Kent is one of the most distinguished in England. It is 
the sole county that formed an entire kingdom in the Saxon Heptarchy. 
Villenage was here unknown ; hence, to avoid the objection of bondage, it 
was sufficient for one to say " that his father was born in Kent." A man of 
Kent, was an honorable appellation. Here prevailed the custom of gavelkind, 
to the exclusion of the unequal laws of primogeniture : all lands were 
divided equally among the sons, and in default among the daughters. A 
Kentish yeoman, about the time of our chronicles, passed for a plain man of 
plentiful estate, and desired to answer in all respects to the name of " Good- 
man." Prom the fact of his carrying away the bell for wealth from all of his 
rank in England, came the rhyme 

'• A knight of Cales, and a gentleman of Wales, and a laird of the North Countrie, 
A yeoman of Kent, with his yearly rent, will buy them out all three." 

[ Page 36. ] 

" In the midst of the revelry of her bridal night, the daughter of Wyan- 
danch was seized by the Narragansetts, and carried off with many others, into 
captivity. Gardiner, after many efforts, succeeded in redeeming this girl long 
before the termination of the war, and Wyandanch, impressed with a deep 
Bense of gratitude, &c., &o., presented him with the region of country on 
Long Island which now bears the name of Smithtown." 
Mass. Hist. So., Vol. X, 3d series. 

[ Page 55. ] 

The island was visited by Capt. Wm. Kidd, the pirate, in 1699. "Mr. 
Gardiner has in his possession a piece of cloth of gold, left hero by Kidd. 
Paul Williams, and several pirates or buccaneers, visited Gardiner's Island 
early in the last century, and plundered it." 
N. E. Hist, and Gon. Reg.. Vol. VI. 

" Geo. Fenwick, Escjuire, succeeded Lion Gardiner, in command of the fort 
at Saybrook. This G. Fenwick was aft<n-wards Coll. in the Parliament army, 
and is probtibly the one who was one of the judges of King Charles I." 



NOTES. 121 

" Vice Admiral Arbuthnot lay with eleven ships of the line in Gardiner's 
Bay, in the summer of 1780 and in the winter of 17S1. In Aui^ust, 1775, 
this place was plundered of 70 head of fatt cattle, 1,2U0 sheep, i.^:c., by Gen- 
eral Gage's order, and were carried to Boston by a largo number of vessels 
under convoy, for the use of the British army. About the summer of 1778, 
it was robbed of considera'ole property by two British refugee sloops, under 
protection of a frigate. In 17^0, much damage was done to the timber, by 
Admiral Arbuthnot's fleet. After the fat stock was taken to Boston in 1775, 
all the remainder of the stock was taken off by order of the County Com- 
mittee, and sold for Continental money. Near the close of the war, the island 
was plundered by small armed boats from Connecticut. Nothing but a few 
horses were kept on the island during the war, and part of these the British 
army, under Sir Wm. Erskine, demanded." 

Notes aud Observations on the Town of Easthampton, at the east end of 

Long Island. Written by John Lyon Gardiner, of the Isle of Wight, 

in April. 17it8. 
Coll. N. Y. Hist. So., page 226. 

[Faffe 56. J 

" Sir Thomas Banks, author of T/ie Dot-mant and Extinct Baronage of England, 
wrote me about our early settlers, * Many of them were the branches of noble 
and distinguished houses in England. The Percys, in Virginia, I consider 
descended from the old Percys, Earls of Northumberland, and their line 
traceable, if duly inquired into. I suspect, the family of Gardiner, of 
Gardiner's Island, to be the representatives of Mr. Gardiner, who married 
one of the co-heiresses of the Barony, the Most Ancient Barony of Fitzwalter, 
now under claim before the House of Lords, by Sir H. Brooke Bridges, Bart. 
Fitzwalter was the General of the Barons' Army which obtained the Magna 
Charta of King John.' " 

Coll. Mass. Hist. So., Vol. Vni, 3d Series ; and 
Banks' Dormant and Extinct Baronage. 

[Page 60.] 

In 1650, the Commissioners of the United English Colonics, at a meeting 
at Hartford, passed a resolution, " That the jurisdiction of Connecticut hath 
liberty to take Easthampton, upon Long Island, under their government, if 
hey submit." 

i 

Further reference, aefe _ 

TrumbJ^ff'History of Connecticut. 

Documentary Hist, of N. Y. 

Winthrop"s Journal. 

Sketch of Long Island ; by Silas Wood. 

Thompson's Hist, of Long Island. 

Magualia Am. Christi. 

American Genealogy. (Holgate). 

Hubbard's Narrative of Indian Wars, from 1607 to 1677. 

HiFt. of Long Island. N. S. Prime, 



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